Carnival worker charged with sexually abusing toddlers, videotaping attacks
SUN-TIMES STAFF September 18, 2012 11:44AM
Wilfredo Elias / photo from Cook County Sheriff's office
Updated: September 18, 2012 11:46AM
A 29-year-old Chicago man who worked with a traveling carnival has been charged with sexually assaulting two toddlers and videotaping the attacks.
Wilfredo Elias, 29, has been charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and manufacturing child pornography, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. He could face life in prison if convicted of the Class X felonies.
An investigation by the state’s attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force showed that the traveling carny would “video record repeated sexual assaults” of a 2-year-old and 3-year-old girl, prosecutors allege.
In July, a witness found a USB computer memory storage device that belonged to Elias, which contained a file “depicting the defendant sexually assaulting a child,” according to a statement from prosecutors. The witness told a family member, who contacted police.
Task force members later found multiple video images showing Elias allegedly assaulting the girls, who were identified as children who had been left in his care several times over the past year, according to prosecutors.
An arrest warrant was issued, and Elias was taken into custody last week while traveling with a carnival in Missouri. He was extradited and is being held without bond at the Cook County Jail. A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 5.
