U.S. Judge James Zagel on July 14 sentenced former North Riverside resident Michael Gruber to 10 years and one month in federal prison for possessing and distributing child pornography.
In addition, the judge ordered Gruber, 56, to pay $1,500 in restitution to a victim of child pornography who was identified during the investigation into Gruber’s massive collection of images and videos.
Gruber, a former lieutenant for the Stickney Fire Department, pleaded guilty in January 2010 to two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography. Between 2005 and his arrest in 2008, Gruber amassed more than 43,000 still images of child pornography and almost 400 videos, which he saved and catalogued on compact discs and on his home computer’s hard drive.
The FBI arrested Gruber at his North Riverside home after an undercover agent with the bureau’s Innocent Images Task Force began an online correspondence with Gruber via an instant messaging program in early 2008. During that correspondence, Gruber sent images of child pornography to the agent.
When the FBI raided Gruber’s North Riverside home in September 2008, they found a huge collection of pornographic images and videos involving children.
“Gruber sorted, categorized and catalogued some of his collection by creating user folders. He labeled most of the 51 compact discs by age group. In other words, Gruber so cherished his voluminous collection of child pornography that he meticulously organized it, and rather than deleting it, he transferred it to compact discs when he ran out of space on his hard drive,” stated U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a court filing.
Because of the extent of the collection and its inclusion of some notorious videos, Fitzgerald had recommended a sentence of between 10 and 12.5 years in prison and lifetime court supervision for Gruber.
Prior to sentencing Zagel ordered a psychological evaluation of Gruber, who had no prior criminal record.
In addition to handing down a sentence of 10 years in prison, Zagel also ruled that Gruber be placed on court supervision for five years following his release from prison.
Zagel also restricted Gruber’s use of computers, cameras, the Internet and contact with minors following his release. Federal law will require Gruber to serve at least 85 percent of his 121-month sentence.
Gruber will begin serving his sentence on Sept. 1. Until that time, Gruber, now a resident of Berwyn, will be confined to his home and under electronic monitoring.
