Musselman pleads not guilty to federal porn charges

By JEFF LAMPE
For The Prairie News

PEORIA – Facing a federal indictment that could send him to prison for up to 30 years, Jason Musselman of Toulon entered a plea of not guilty to seven charges at a hearing in Peoria’s U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Hawley released Musselman, 34, without bond into the supervision of his father, Ron Musselman, who will act as third-party custodian.

According to Jason Musselman’s attorney, Kevin F. Sullivan of Peoria, the decision to release his client came despite “vigorous objection” by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Holst Schryer, who is representing the government in the prosecution.

As a stipulation of his release, Musselman is on home detention with electronic monitoring, he can’t have contact with anyone under 18 years old without court approval and can’t use devices with Internet connections.

Sullivan said Musselman is not allowed to go into his home or to leave the family farm near Toulon, except to help with farming operations.

“He can work on the family farm and assist his father in the planting of crops and whatever has to be done, including on their farmland,” Sullivan said. “Other than the allegations, I think the court was impressed by Jason’s and his father’s credibility. [Jason Musselman] has no criminal history.”

In addition to serving as an alderman, Musselman has been affiliated with the Toulon Fire Department, the Toulon Civic Association, the Toulon Old Settlers Association and was an announcer at Stark County High School football and basketball games and a football statistician. He also worked as a DJ and farmed. He is former publisher of the Stark County News weekly newspaper and is a former Stark County ESDA Director.

Tuesday’s hearing capped a busy four days for Musselman, who was arrested on March 11 by Illinois State Police and charged in a 14-page criminal complaint with multiple instances of sexual exploitation of minors and the production, possession and distribution of child pornography. He was detained by U.S. Marshals until Tuesday on the order of Hawley.

Monday evening, Toulon Mayor Larry Hollis announced at the Toulon City Council meeting that he received Musselman’s notarized letter of resignation as Ward Two Alderman. The city council voted to accept the resignation. The letter was not read in the open meeting.

The mayor now has 60 days to appoint a replacement to the council. Musselman’s term started in 2019 and runs through 2023.

On Tuesday, Sullivan filed a motion to dismiss the state’s charges against Musselman that were heard on Jan. 21 in the Stark County Courthouse. Sullivan said that since the case had moved to the federal courts, “charges should be prosecuted in a single prosecution in one court.”

Sullivan’s filing also seeks a refund of the $25,000 bond posted on Jan. 21.

Stark County State’s Attorney Caroline Borden Campion said Wednesday in a press release that her office, “will not be able to prosecute charges in state court that are also being prosecuted in federal court, and consequently will be dismissing state charges with the right to re-file if necessary.”

The federal charges include five counts of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

If convicted of the federal charges, Musselman faces maximum penalties of up to up to 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to a lifetime of supervised release. The possible federal penalties are more onerous than those that could have resulted from the original nine state charges.

Next up for Musselman is a pretrial conference scheduled for April 21 at 9:30 a.m.

A federal jury trial has also been scheduled for Monday, May 2. Sullivan said he expects that jury trial will be continued due to the “hundreds if not thousands of pages of discovery” that has to be assembled.

The Illinois State Police (ISP) investigation into Musselman started on Aug. 21, 2021, after a report was submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by MediaLab.ai Inc., which owns the mobile messaging app called Kik. According to the federal affidavit filed March 10, that report was about an incident of child sexual abuse material being transmitted using Kik.

On Jan. 19, special agents from the ISP and the Department of Homeland Security executed a search warrant on Musselman’s home, his three vehicles, his electronic devices and his person.

In response to questioning at the time, Musselman reportedly told officers “he may have clicked on a few wrong things but denied searching for child pornography.”

Investigators say while searching Musselman’s cell phone they found a folder with 226 digital images of nude individuals on or near a tanning bed. The images were also found on a computer storage card located in Musselman’s bedroom. Investigation is ongoing into the identity and age of some of the individuals shown in those pictures.

The storage card also contained other pictures and videos of a pornographic nature, according to the complaint. Images included those of a partially-clad woman taken by “someone using a camera to view the inside of a second-story window on a home.” Investigators used GPS coordinates to determine the pictures were of a Toulon home near Musselman’s residence.

The federal affidavit alleges that from April 2010 to March 2013, Musselman gathered sexually explicit photos and videos of minors. Eight adults – who were minors at the time the pictures were taken – told investigators Musselman invited a group of 13 to use a tanning bed at his Toulon home. They said they were not aware they were being photographed.

The affidavit also alleges that on or about Dec. 21, 2021, Musselman distributed child pornography and that on or about Jan. 19, 2022, he committed the offense of possessing material containing child pornography, including images of children age 13 and under.

Agencies participating in the investigation include the Stark County State’s Attorney’s Office, Illinois State Police, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Washington Police Department.

John A. Ballentine also contributed to this report.