Editor’s note: Some of the details described in the story below may be disturbing for readers.
A Chicago veterinarian and well-known dog show judge was arrested by federal agents on child pornography charges following a several months-long investigation by the FBI, court documents revealed.
Adam Stafford King, 39, was taken into custody on Friday at his home in west suburban Elburn for knowingly distributing child pornography, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois.
FBI agents discovered King through an online messaging service called Telegram, through which he allegedly sent several images and videos depicting child pornography to another user, court documents stated. In late 2023 and early this year, the FBI used an account to communicate with King, who revealed that he had previously abused his nieces and nephews and claimed he had a “large digital cache” of child pornography stored on Telegram, according to the criminal complaint.
Court records also stated that King and his husband were expecting a child by surrogate and that he planned to sexually assault the child after it was born. He then messaged a photograph of a baby’s outfit, which matched an outfit found during a search of his residence, the filing revealed.
The FBI conducted a raid on King’s residence on March 5, according to the documents. While he refused to be interviewed, King did offer access to his cell phone, which contained some of the images that had been sent through the chat, the criminal complaint stated.
King began working at Chicago’s MedVet in 2019, but as of Monday afternoon, his biography was no longer listed on the establishment’s website. King became well-known in the animal industry, breeding dogs and judging competitions on the national dog show circuit.
He was being held without bond as of Monday evening.
NBC Chicago reached out to King’s attorney, who declined to provide a comment.