CHICAGO - A judge on Wednesday refused to jail a former schoolbus driver facing child pornography charges despite pleas from hissuburban Chicago neighbors who want him kept far away from theirchildren.
About two dozen residents of Plainfield attended a Chicago courthearing in the case against Mario Meschino, 41. U.S. MagistrateJudge Martin C. Ashman ordered Meschino to turn over his camera andclose his window blinds but said the case doesn't merit he be jailedbefore trial.
Meschino was arrested May 27 and released on bond after Ashmanagreed that he be held in home confinement with electronicmonitoring. Neighbors want that reversed.
Meschino is accused of photographing neighborhood children, andparents said some kids are so scared they wake up in the middle ofthe night. One girl went to the family swimming pool with a towelover her head, afraid she would be photographed.
"We put this pool in our back yard because we wanted to keep aclose eye on our children - we made this investment," Naidi Mack, amother who lives behind Meschino, said after the hearing.
Ashman ordered Meschino to draw the shades on windows that facethe pool, but he ruled that Meschino shouldn't be held. Defendantsoften are released on bond pending trial if they're not considereddangerous or a flight risk.
Meschino is charged in a criminal complaint with sending childporn over the Internet.
Meschino's attorney, J. Clifford Greene Jr., said after thehearing that Meschino has been in full compliance with the court'sorder, hasn't been convicted and has never been accused of harminganyone.
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