CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) — A former paramedic and youth soccer coach from Illinois has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for child sexual exploitation, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Timothy Scholtes, 46, of Coal City, Illinois sexually molested six minor boys in the Coal City area, most of them in the three years prior to his arrest in 2009. One of the children was the subject of child pornography that Scholtes manufactured.

Investigations began in May 2009 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents learned from local authorities that a 10-year-old player on Scholtes’ soccer team refused to ride to or from practice with Scholtes because the child had told his parents that Scholtes had made a sexual solicitation while driving him home after a soccer practice. 

In June 2009, federal agents searched Scholtes’ Grundy County residence and computer, discovering approximately 200 images and 18 videos depicting child pornography, including three photographs that he had taken himself of one of his victims.

“The defendant used his positions as fireman, paramedic and soccer coach to prey on his young victims,” Gary Hartwig, Special Agent-in-Charge of the ICE Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago, said. ”He continued to prey on children by producing and sharing his large collection of child pornography. The significant prison sentence that he received is well-deserved.”

Scholtes pleaded guilty last October to one count of manufacturing and two counts of receiving child pornography but denied that he had sexually molested any youths, but he later tried to withdraw his guilty plea, which was denied by a judge.

After hearing family members of seven minor victims, including some who were solicited but not actually molested, Scholtes received a 50-year prison term. The judge imposed the maximum term of 30 years on the manufacturing count and 10 years on each of the two receiving counts, with all of the terms to be served consecutively. 

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