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Last updated 10:08 am CT February 09, 2010.
Newspaper Editor Faces Child Porn Charges
The editor of the Murphysboro American newspaper faces three counts of possession of child porn. Bond for Gojkovich has been set at $250,000.
"I worked very closely with him, so yeah-- it does shock me" says Murphysboro Police Chief Jeff Bock.
Bock says he thought he knew John Gojkovich well, having worked with him on a number of stories.
What he didn't know was that police would eventually investigate Gojkovich, after a tip regarding child pornography.
"There was a person who provided information that they had seen such items."
Based on that information, police obtained a search warrant for Gojkovich's place of business.
During a search at the Murphysboro American, where Gojkovich had been editor for 12 years, officers seized a computer as evidence. They then received a warrant to search his home.
"At that time, there was no computer or anything seized" says Bock.
According to court documents, Gojkovich is accused of possessing still images of underage girls-- naked and posed in inappropriate positions.
"We've lived here for 44 years and I sure hate it" says John Graff. He has lived next door to Gojkovich for the past 15 months and rented Gojkovich a house on Dewey Street.
Graff says Gojkovich kept to himself, and while he was sometimes late on paying rent, Graff says he never expected anything criminal was going on.
"We just felt like we knew him better than that and didn't know him at all I guess."
Police say there could be more charges to come in this case.
Officials with the Murphysboro American referred News 3 to GateHouse Media for a comment on this story. They own the newspaper. Officials with GateHouse did not return our phone calls.
By: Jackie McPherson
jmcpherson@wsiltv.com
Now: 1265732897
