Assuming the evidence that the government has stated is true and was legally found, I don't think there can be any question as to King's guilt. The evidence they have connecting him to the "Chicago Subject" who sent the Telegram messages is extremely strong, IMO.
The husband's involvement/awareness/whatever is much less clear so I'd like to list all of what I think is publicly known so far:
- In April 2017, Aurora PD spoke to King and Husband about potential CSAM being found on an email account linked to King. Aurora PD concluded nothing illegal had occurred because they could not confirm that the subjects of the material were underage. IMO, this implies that the subjects were old enough to plausibly be adults.
1
- In 2023, King (on Telegram) and another user he had met on Scruff indicated they are "pervs". The FBI statement says "Based on my training and experience, I know the term “perv” is often used to describe someone with an interest in pedophilia." King later says his husband is "a non perv". This is said in a conversation in which King discusses a desire to have someone else he can trust over to abuse his child.
2
- On March 5 2024, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home and interviewed King's Husband. The interview included the FBI showing the Husband Telegram messages in which King discussed an interest in abusing their future child.
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- On March 22 2024, the FBI arrested King. Despite having been shown the Telegram messages, the Husband stated "You're doing this now so he can't get on the plane?" They had been scheduled to fly to California, the location of their surrogate, on March 25.
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- King moved to be released from custody pretrial. King suggested that his husband move in with his (King's) parents or the reverse and that his (King's) parents can be his custodians.
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- The Government mentions that King has attached a handful of letters of support in his motion to be released. They call out a letter from King's parents, but do not mention the existence of a letter from the Husband.
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- King's attorney (Jonathan Bedi) proposed releasing King on bond with requirements to stay off of the internet and avoid all contact with minors, including his impending child. Bedi also "called King’s father, husband and father-in-law to testify that they would monitor his activities and report any infractions to the court." It is not clear from the article if it got to the point where they did testify to this, or if the proposition was shut down before that.
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- "U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling sided with prosecutors and ordered King held, noting his relatives all claimed to be completely unaware of his alleged double life. 'This was a complete shock to them,' the judge said. 'Nobody knew this was going on.'"
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1 - Government's Response to Defendant's Motion for Pretrial Release from Custody
actually referencing my earlier post
2 - Criminal Complaint
3 - Chicago Tribune "‘This is heinous, heinous conduct’: Feds say Chicago-area dog show judge deleted child *advertiser censored* evidence in shower during FBI raid"
One thing I'm not really clear on is what the Husband has actually said or done vs. what King/his attorney have said that the Husband would do or say. Eg. did he testify that he would monitor King's activities, or was attorney Bedi only saying that he would? Is the Husband living with King's parents, or was that just an offer from King while trying to be released?