Second arrest made in Rock Island County child porn, sex abuse investigation

MILAN, Ill. – A Milan man has been charged in connection to a state police investigation into child porn and sex abuse dating back to 2024 in Rock Island County.

Dennis Carey, 57, of Milan, is charged with four counts of Child Pornography, a Class X Felony, and four counts of Aggravated Sexual Abuse, a Class 2 Felony.

In Dec. 2024, police arrested and charged Shanna Miller, 47, of Moline, as a result of the same investigation.

Miller is charged with four counts of Child Pornography, a Class X Felony, two counts of Sexual Assault of Child, a Class X Felony, one count of Sexual Assault of Family Member, a Class 1 Felony, and one additional count of Child Pornography, a Class 1 Felony.

The investigation.

DISCRETION IS ADVISED
The following sections include graphic details involving child sex abuse.

In April 2024, Illinois State Police received a cybertip related to a Kik account, an app for instant-messaging on mobile devices, that was flagged for possible child pornography, court documents show.

Investigators reviewed the account and found there were ‘multiple’ photos and videos of child pornography, one of which showed Miller performing oral sex on her son who was about one year old at the time, court documents show.

Search warrants for the IP address of the Mediacom account connected to the suspect Kik account led authorities to Carey’s home, court documents show.

In June 2024, police searched Carey’s home where they seized electronic devices but did not find evidence of any child pornography, court documents show.

After searching his home, police approached Carey at the North Park Mall in Davenport where he had allegedly tried concealing one of his two cell phones.

Investigators were not able to find evidence of child pornography on Carey’s phones either, court documents show.

POLICE INTERVIEW MILLER

After connecting her emails to Carey’s Kik account, revealing ‘numerous’ photos, investigators arranged an interview with Miller, court documents show.

After confronting her with sanitized images from the child pornography, Miller admitted to investigators she had recorded herself performing oral sex on her then one year old son, court documents show.

During the interview, Miller said the emails belonged to a man she knew as ‘Dan Jones,’ of which was the name associated with the emails connected to the Kik account from the cybertip, court documents show.

Miller told investigators she had met ‘Dan Jones’ through a dating website before it moved to Kik and then in-person. She later identified Carey as ‘Dan Jones’ when investigators showed her his driver’s license, court documents show.

Investigators identified Carey’s voice when he called Miller from a blocked number during the interview asking if he could meet up with her, court documents show.

Miller told investigators she often had sex with Carey at her home, and that he would sometimes give her money. She also claimed Carey started having sex with her oldest daughter, Jane Doe, when she was about 20 years old, court documents show.

In the emails associated with Carey’s Kik account, police later found a video of Miller performing oral sex on Jane, as well as a nude photo she took with Jane, court documents show.

POLICE INTERVIEW JANE DOE

In the early stages of the investigation, prior to Miller being charged, Jane told police she didn’t have sex with Carey until after she had turned 18, court documents show.

Investigators showed Jane a sanitized image of Miller sexually assaulting her, as well as the co-nude photograph, of which Jane said she was around 13 to 15 years old in each image or video, court documents show.

When questioned further about her sexual relationship with Carey, Jane told police he ‘popped her cherry’ when she was 13 years old, court documents show.

Jane told police she had oral and vaginal sex with Carey ‘every couple weeks to every so often,’ and that it became ‘routine’ and ‘annoying,’ court documents show.

Furthermore, Jane told police Miller would sometimes join while she and Carey had sex. Adding, Carey recorded them having sex with his cell phone ‘more times than she could count,’ court documents show.

Jane told police Carey warned her and Miller not to talk to police without a lawyer and that his cell phone was taken when his house was raided, court documents show.

Prosecutors say videos found in Miller’s emails corroborated Carey’s visits to the house, court documents show.

Arresting Carey.

^{Witness identified with initials, MD.}

In early February, one of Carey’s childhood friends, MD, reached out to the Sheriff’s Office, court documents show.

In an interview with police, MD said she reconnected with Carey through Facebook where he told her his wife had left him and that he had previously been raided by police, court documents show.

MD said Carey told her he was ‘proud’ police did not find a flash drive in his garage that contained ‘everything that the police were looking for,’ including ‘unspecified content’ with Miller, Jane Doe, and Miller’s other children, court documents show.

MD also told police she received a text message from Carey with Jane Doe’s photo, where he said he wanted to find her to have sex with her. Furthermore, MD told police Carey lied about Jane’s age when he said he had sex with her about five years ago, when she was around 16 years old, court documents show.

MD described Carey as being ‘obsessed with finding Jane,’ court documents show.

On Feb. 18, another search warrant was executed on Carey’s home, as well as his workplace, where they collected electronic evidence, and placed him into custody, according to state police.

What comes next?

On Feb. 19, Associate Judge Mathew Durbin denied prosecutors’ request to keep Carey in jail until trial, and he was subsequently released from Rock Island County Jail with conditions, including home confinement and GPS monitoring, court records show.

According to a court filing from Feb. 19, prosecutors are, ‘anticipating filing additional charges based on the results of execution of new search warrants and additional evidence that is gathered.’

Carey is set to return to court March 3 at 10:30 a.m. for a preliminary hearing.

Miller remains in custody at the Rock Island County Jail. A pretrial conference is set for March 12 at 8:30 a.m.

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