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wilmettebeacon.com news<br />
the wilmette beacon | November 8, 2018 | 3<br />
Ex-Loyola teacher facing additional charges after new local victims come forward<br />
Bail set at $750K<br />
Jason Addy<br />
Contributing Editor<br />
Already<br />
jailed on<br />
charges of<br />
sexual assault<br />
and<br />
distributing<br />
child pornography,<br />
Laird<br />
former North<br />
Shore educator Mathew J.<br />
Laird is facing additional<br />
child pornography charges<br />
after more victims came<br />
forward, Assistant State’s<br />
Attorney Andreana Turano<br />
said in court Tuesday, Oct.<br />
30.<br />
The pending charges<br />
arose after several people<br />
identified themselves to<br />
police as the individuals<br />
shown in pornographic<br />
images and videos found<br />
on Laird’s phone during a<br />
police search of his home<br />
in September, Turano said,<br />
indicating some were current<br />
or former students at<br />
North Shore Academy in<br />
Highland Park.<br />
Laird, 32, of the 3900<br />
block of Triumvera Drive<br />
in Glenview, was arrested<br />
Tuesday, Oct. 23, at his<br />
home and charged with<br />
criminal sexual assault<br />
— position of authority;<br />
criminal sexual assault —<br />
nonconsensual; dissemination<br />
of child pornography<br />
— under 13 years; possession<br />
of child pornography<br />
— under 13 years; and nonconsensual<br />
dissemination<br />
of private sexual images.<br />
Laird faces up to 120 years<br />
in prison if convicted on all<br />
five felony charges.<br />
When police searched<br />
Laird’s phone, they discovered<br />
he was researching international<br />
extradition laws<br />
and shopping for airline<br />
tickets, Turano told Judge<br />
Anijana M.J. Hansen Tuesday,<br />
Oct. 30, at the Cook<br />
County Second District<br />
Courthouse in Skokie.<br />
Among the entries police<br />
found in the search history<br />
of Laird’s phone was one<br />
that read: “What countries<br />
do not extradite for child<br />
porn?” Turano said, adding<br />
Laird poses a “real and<br />
present threat” to the community.<br />
Laird was also in the process<br />
of selling his personal<br />
items online when police<br />
searched his home, Turano<br />
said.<br />
Ralph Meczyk, Laird’s<br />
attorney, disputed that<br />
Laird is a threat to the community<br />
and said he had<br />
ample time and opportunity<br />
to leave town before police<br />
filed the five felony charges<br />
against him but remained<br />
in the area.<br />
Meczyk told the court<br />
Laird was ready to post<br />
“a very, very substantial”<br />
bond using his savings,<br />
which amount to between<br />
$40,000 and $50,000.<br />
After hearing Turano’s<br />
description of the pending<br />
additional child pornography<br />
charges, Hansen set<br />
Laird’s bail at $750,000<br />
— $500,000 for the three<br />
child pornography charges<br />
he is facing and $250,000<br />
for Laird’s two sexual assault<br />
charges.<br />
Laird will have to post<br />
$75,000 to be released<br />
from the Cook County Jail,<br />
where he has been held<br />
since his arrest on Oct. 24.<br />
Laird would be placed on<br />
electronic home-monitoring<br />
if released on bail.<br />
Laird’s bail conditions<br />
include surrendering his<br />
passport and any firearms,<br />
as well as having no contact<br />
with any of his alleged<br />
victims and anyone under<br />
the age of 18. Upon his release,<br />
Laird would also be<br />
banned from using the internet,<br />
Hansen said.<br />
“I’m gratified that Her<br />
Honor, Judge Hansen, admitted<br />
him to bail,” Meczyk<br />
said, adding he did not<br />
know if Laird would be<br />
able to post $75,000 to secure<br />
his release on bail.<br />
Police search<br />
At Laird’s initial court<br />
appearance the day after his<br />
arrest, Turano detailed the<br />
Glenview Police Department’s<br />
search of his home<br />
in September, during which<br />
authorities found “several<br />
hundred images both pornographic<br />
and non-pornographic<br />
of current and<br />
former female high school<br />
students,” as well as videos<br />
of a similar nature.<br />
Police have said they are<br />
working to identify the students<br />
shown in those images<br />
and videos.<br />
Among the pornographic<br />
materials discovered at<br />
Laird’s home were videos<br />
of adults engaging in sexaul<br />
activity with children<br />
as young as 3 years old,<br />
Turano said.<br />
Glenview Police detectives<br />
who work on the<br />
Cook County Internet<br />
Crimes Against Children<br />
Task Force launched an investigation<br />
into Laird after<br />
National Center for Missing<br />
and Exploited Children<br />
notified them that a user of<br />
an adult-pornography website<br />
was uploading child<br />
pornography onto the site.<br />
Please see Laird, 6<br />
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