Suburban Chicago coach allegedly paid minors he met on social media for child pornography

DARIEN, Ill. - A girls track and field coach at a suburban Chicago high school has been charged with paying two minors to produce child pornography after an investigation that began in the summer of 2022.

Glen Clifford Messmer, 46, of Darien, who served as an assistant track coach at Downers Grove South High School, contacted the minors, who lived out of state, through social media platforms Snapchat and Telegram, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

According to the complaint, Messmer convinced both minors to make "child sexual abuse material," and in at least one instance, provided specific instructions at to how to produce the material he wanted.

Court documents also alleged that Messmer paid both minors for the material through CashApp.

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Messmer continued to contact both minors until September 2022, according to the complaint.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Messmer's home on Tuesday, where they found multiple images and video files containing child pornography on a computer, prosecutors said.

Messmer was arrested and made his initial court appearance on Thursday. He is currently being held in federal custody until his detention hearing, prosecutors said.

Messmer resigned from his position at the high school Thursday, according to an email sent out by District 99 Supt. Hank Thiele. He had joined the team as an assistant coach in April 2021.

No students from the district were believed to be involved in the case, according to the email.

Messmer did not teach at the school and had passed a background check before interacting with any students, the email said.

If he's found guilty, Messmer faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.