An ex-police officer and sergeant in the south suburbs had dozens of images on his phone depicting children as young as 8 years old engaged in sex acts, Cook County prosecutors say.
Bail was set at $1 million Saturday for Tory Bridgeforth, 37, the former Dixmoor police officer and Robbins sergeant who now faces three felony charges of child pornography possession.
Bridgeforth, a Chicago Heights resident, was arrested Wednesday after authorities searched his phones and found 35 pictures and videos that sometimes included “prepubescent” girls, prosecutors said during a livestreamed bail hearing.
Six of the videos depicted the same girl engaging in sex acts with a man, while others showed another pair of minors, according to prosecutors, who suggested additional charges could be forthcoming.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Internet Crimes Against Children Unit received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child pornography found on an email account that was later traced to Bridgeforth, authorities said.
After surveilling Bridgeforth and later arresting him during a traffic stop, police recovered three phones from his vehicle, prosecutors said. The phones allegedly contained multiple videos with timestamps and file names matching those from the initial tip.
Bridgeforth allegedly confirmed he was the sole user of the phone number and email accounts the sheriff’s office had been tracking, and told them he had been using his phone to view child pornography, though he refused to give the passcodes to the phones, according to the sheriff’s office.
During Saturday’s hearing, Bridgeforth’s lawyer called the charges a “misunderstanding,” asserting that his client was the one who’d tipped off law enforcement.
Bridgeforth was let go from the Dixmoor Police Department last May. Prosecutors allege he possessed the child pornography while he was still an officer.
He lost his position as a Robbins sergeant after a 2018 investigation into an incident in which Bridgeforth allegedly brought three children — a 12-year-old and two 13-year-olds he’d met on a call the previous day — to an abandoned house where he gave them edibles, alcohol and juice before bringing them home.
That didn’t result in criminal charges, but he was terminated by the Robbins department soon after, prosecutors said.
Bridgeforth was also charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm in 2018, though he later pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, according to prosecutors.
Judge Susana Ortiz called Bridgeforth “a danger to any children whatsoever, [including] his own,” while setting bail at $1 million. “I do consider them to be crimes of violence.”
If he were to post the $100,000 required for his release from jail ahead of trial, Ortiz barred Bridgeforth from using devices that can electronically store information, or from using the internet aside from “necessary activities” such as paying bills.
Ortiz also barred Bridgeforth from contacting anyone under the age of 18 — including his 12-year-old daughter, for whom he is sole caretaker, and two 7-year-old children he cares for with his current girlfriend.
Bridgeforth is due in court again Tuesday.
