Steven Habay (Highland Park Police / Handout)
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) -- A former suburban Chicago substitute teacher has been sentenced to 49 months in prison for possession of child pornography.
Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes on Tuesday told Steven Habay parents expect that their children will be safe "not only physically but emotionally" when they are sent to school.
The 41-year-old Habay was arrested in May 2014 and initially charged with cyberstalking and electronic harassment in connection with angry comments about two students posted on a blog. Child pornography charges were filed after it was found on his computer. No students of Highland Park High School were pictured.
Habay later said he would have never consented to have his computer searched had he known police would go beyond searching for blog postings.
Shanes rejected a defense motion for a new trial before he handed down the sentence.