Belleville man sentenced for child pornography, distributing images
.jpg "A Belleville man has been sentenced in a child pornography case.")
A Belleville man who may have been molested by his family’s pastor has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for two counts of disseminating child pornography images and two counts of disseminating private sexual images of an adult without consent, according to court records and a statement from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday.
Owen J. Corder, who turns 23 on Saturday, pleaded guilty to the charges on Nov. 24, according to court records and information from Raoul’s office.
Court records show that six additional counts of disseminating child pornography were dismissed.
Corder’s attorney, Justin Kuehn of Belleville, requested a 12-year sentence, but St. Clair County Circuit Judge John O’Gara sentenced Corder to 16 years on Wednesday, according to court records and Raoul’s office.
“At the heart of Owen’s mitigation lies childhood trauma,” Kuehn wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“His parents have long believed that, at just 3 years old, Owen was molested by the family’s pastor,” Kuehn wrote.
Kuehn could not be reached for comment Friday.
The memorandum states that the pastor was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated sexual abuse of a child under 13, but later pleaded guilty to endangering the health and life of a child.
“Owen did not serve as the named victim in that prosecution, but he demonstrated tell-tale signs of sexual abuse once he began attending preschool” at the pastor’s church, Kuehn wrote.
Corder “cannot say definitively that he was sexually abused by the pastor because he was so young but he thinks he was,” according to the memorandum.
“It goes without saying that victims of child sex abuse are more apt to develop unhealthy curiosities that increase the likelihood of committing child pornography offenses.”
Corder was arrested in June after investigators from Raoul’s office and the Belleville Police Department searched Corder’s residence in the 4500 block of South Park Drive and “discovered evidence of child sexual abuse material,” according to a news release from Raoul at the time.
A detention order notes that prosecutors alleged Corder “sent out images of (his) girlfriend” of a sexual nature without her knowledge or consent.
Corder was being held Friday in the St. Clair County Jail.
“Those who prey upon and exploit victims online must be held accountable,” Raoul said in a news release Friday. “My office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force works tirelessly to identify and track down individuals who assault and exploit children.”
Assistant Attorneys General Jenifer Peck and David Sternau prosecuted the case for Raoul’s High Tech Crimes Bureau.
This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 6:18 PM.
