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Crime & Safety

Accused Former Wheaton Professor Plans Move

Judge allows bond modification for Donald Ratcliff during moving process.

A judge has agreed to allow adjustments to the electronic home monitoring aspect of the current bond restrictions placed on a former Wheaton College professor charged with possessing child pornography.

Donald Ratcliff remains free on $300,000 bail, but asked a judge last week to modify his EHM as he moves from Carol Stream to another DuPage County location, according to court records.

The Daily Herald reported Ratcliff will be allowed a six-hour window to move his belongings to a residence in Villa Park. Court records state Ratcliff is about to close on the family home in Carol Stream and already has leased a new place to live. His current bond also restricts internet use and interaction with minors.

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Earlier this year, Ratcliff was charged after investigators tracked pornography downloads to Ratcliff's computer and recovered five computer hard drives and hundreds of DVDs that included images and videos of child rape, fondling and sexually suggestive dancing by girls as young as preschool age, according to prosecutors.

Wheaton College fired Ratcliff, and his wife filed for divorce a short time after his arrest. Court documents show the divorce case remains pending. The judge in that case recently allowed Ratcliff to withdraw approximately $65,000 from a retirement plan to cover bills on the Carol Stream home between May and August, as well as property taxes, records state.

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Ratcliff is scheduled to return to court next month in both cases.

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