Teacher’s aide at suburban high school accused of sharing child porn

PALATINE, Ill. — A teacher’s aide at a suburban high school is facing a slew of felony charges after authorities say he used an instant messaging app to share images depicting child sexual abuse.

Bradley Robertson, a 41-year-old man who works as a teacher’s aide at Palatine High School, has been indicted on eight counts of reproduction of child pornography with a victim under 13, and possession of child pornography, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced Friday morning.

According to Burke, the case against Robertson began in early 2025 after investigators with the state’s attorney’s office received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child sexual abuse material allegedly accessed by an account on the messaging app Kik.

After executing multiple search warrants, investigators were able to obtain the IP address, email address, phone number and home address of the person believed to have been associated with the account.

After identifying Robertson as the individual suspected of operating the account, authorities then took steps to conduct a search at his home on June 17.

Prosecutors said Robertson was not home at the time, but he allowed law enforcement to enter and conduct their search. They later seized three laptops from the home.

Later that same day, prosecutors said Robertson turned himself in at the Palatine Police Department.

At the time he was taken into custody, he was allegedly in possession of a cell phone. After searching the phone he had on him at the time of his arrest, police allegedly uncovered at least three files containing child sexual abuse material depicting children under 13.  

In addition to the alleged files shared over Kik, prosecutors said Robertson also allegedly discussed sharing child sexual abuse images with other users of the app.

Following his first court appearance on June 19, Robertson was ordered detained and remains in custody in the Cook County jail.

Robertson is set to return to court on Friday.

Prosecutors did not provide a booking photo for Robertson.