A Worth man has been charged with possession and dissemination of child pornography after investigators found numerous sexually explicit images and videos of children under the age of 13 on his cellphone, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced this week. Acting on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, SVU investigators were able to trace information in the tip – including images of child pornography provided by the tipster – to an account on an app linked to Juan Carlos Alvarado-Platero, 43, of the 6700 block of West 113th Street.

As the result of a search warrant issued to the social media app, SVU investigators learned that 8 images and 7 videos depicting child pornography had been shared from the account linked to Alvarado-Platero. On Tuesday, Aug. 10, SVU investigators obtained and executed a search warrant for Alvarado-Platero’s residence, and he was taken into custody and his cellphone was seized.

After being issued his Miranda Rights, Alvarado-Platero told investigators he used his cellphone to view, download, and share images and videos on social media apps of underage children engaging in sexual acts. A subsequent forensic examination of his phone revealed a large number of pornographic images and videos of children as young as 5-months-old.

Alvarado-Platero is slated to appear in the Cook County Fifth Municipal District Courthouse in Bridgeview today for a bond hearing on charges of dissemination of child pornography, a Class X felony, and possession of child pornography, a Class 2 felony. The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.