A Will County judge set a $1 million bail Wednesday for a Crest Hill man who told police he used child pornography to distract himself from thoughts of killing his wife and two young daughters.
Joshua K. Price, 26, was arrested March 29 and faces three child pornography possession charges that could land him seven years in jail, according to court records. His bail was originally set at $250,000.
Police said Price was “very honest” in videotaped interviews, though. They said he has post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the military in the Middle East, and he was using child pornography to take his mind off his anger.
Will County Detective Joseph Fazio also said Price told him the pornography “keeps him from thinking about killing his wife and children.” His daughters are 4 and 6, according to court records.
Police said they found 1,700 images on his computer showing not only pornography but images of dismembered women.
“If these images are staged images and not genuine,” prosecutors wrote in a request for higher bond, “the level of staging appears very sophisticated.”
Judge Edward Burmila interrupted a hearing on that request Wednesday after hearing how Price used the pornography, and he set Price’s bail at $1 million.
Price was arrested after he left a flash drive containing the pornographic images in a computer lab at Joliet Junior College, authorities said.
When the drive was turned in, a lab assistant looked on it to try to find its owner and discover class work belonging to Price along with the pornography.
When police searched his Crest Hill apartment and seized his computer and more flash drives there.