Former part-time police officer sentenced to 10 years for possessing child pornography

Urbana, IL – A former part-time police officer was sentenced Friday to serve 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. The sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Decatur Police Department.

Douglas H. Spensley, 44, a former, part-time police officer in Warrensburg, Ill., was sentenced Oct. 7 in the Central District of Illinois. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey accepted the terms of a stipulated plea agreement reached by Spensley and the government in June 2011.

Spensley pleaded guilty in August 2011, in Macon County Circuit Court, to one count of predatory criminal sexual assault. Spensley was ordered to serve 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections consecutive to the 10-year prison sentence for the federal offense. As a result of his conviction, Spensley will be designated as a sexual predator and is required to register as a sex offender.

On June 15, Spensley appeared in federal court in Urbana before U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal and pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. Spensley also agreed to forfeit to the government his computer and related equipment and one-third of the equity or proceeds of the sale of his former residence in Decatur, Ill.

Spensley has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest on federal charges in November 2009.

Asst. U.S. Attorneys Elly M. Peirson and Timothy A. Bass, Central District of Illinois successfully prosecuted the federal case in cooperation with Macon County's state attorney's office.