Jacksonville man gets probation in child pornography case

A Jacksonville man avoided prison after a negotiated guilty plea in Morgan County court left him on four years of probation in a child pornography case. Austin Castleberry, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and was sentenced July 13.

The case began with Castleberry’s arrest last year during an investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. That work ran through the office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting online child exploitation and coordinating with federal, state and local agencies. The attorney general’s High Tech Crimes Bureau also handles computer crimes, including online child pornography, and works with the state ICAC task force.

The plea matters because it ended the case without a trial and took the sentence out of the prison track. In Illinois, possession of child pornography is a Class 2 felony, a charge that can carry three to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. Compared with that statutory exposure, probation is a markedly lighter result. Similar Illinois cases have ended with long prison terms, including 15 years in a Ramsey case and 24 years in McLean County.

For Castleberry, the sentence means the case now shifts from prosecution to supervision. He remains under the Morgan County court’s authority for four years, and probation keeps the conviction active in the background of his daily life rather than ending with a prison term. Any court-ordered requirements tied to that probation must be followed for the full term, and a violation can bring the matter back before the court.

The case adds to a steady stream of local criminal matters moving through Morgan County courts, but it stands out because it involved a Jacksonville resident, a negotiated felony plea and an allegation rooted in digital child exploitation.