Plainfield School Bus Driver Arrested for Distribution of Child Pornography

FBI Chicago Division
Special Agent Joan Hyde
May 28, 2009

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today the arrest of MARIO MESCHINO, age 41, of 24950 Madison in Plainfield, Illinois. MESCHINO was arrested yesterday morning at his residence, without incident, by Special Agents assigned to the Chicago FBI's Innocent Images Task Force (IITF).

MESCHINO, who is employed by the First Student Transportation Company in Plainfield as a school bus driver, was charged in a criminal complaint filed yesterday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of Distribution of Child Pornography, which is a felony offense. According to the complaint, MESCHINO was identified by the IITF as a possible distributor of child pornography over the internet. A search of his residence was conducted yesterday morning, pursuant to a federal search warrant. During the search, numerous CD's were discovered, each of which contained suspected images of minor children engaged in sexually explicit activity. Subsequent investigation identified several e-mail accounts used by MESCHINO, which also were determined to have been used to send pornographic images of minor children.

MESCHINO appeared before Magistrate Judge Martin Ashman in Chicago, Wednesday afternoon, at which time he was formally charged. MESCHINO was ordered held without bond, pending his next scheduled court appearance, and will be housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charge filed against him, MESCHINO faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five (5) years incarceration to a maximum of twenty (20) years.

The FBI's Innocent Images initiative was established in 1996 and is part of a nationwide effort to combat the manufacture, distribution and possession of child pornography. At present, there are 43 separate IITF's in various FBI offices around the country which are investigating similar cases.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Copies of the criminal complaint filed in this case are available from the Chicago FBI's press office at (312) 829-1199.