Former Wheaton Professor Pleads Not Guilty to Child Porn Charges

A former Wheaton College professor pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated possession of child pornography and weapons-related charges in DuPage County Thursday morning.

Donald Ratcliff, 60, of Carol Stream faces seven counts of aggravated possession of child pornography, two counts of possession of a firearm without a FOID card and one count of possession of ammunition without a FOID card.

According to a March 29 statement from Wheaton College, Ratcliff's employment ended March 14.

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Ratcliff is sheduled to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation prior to a discovery hearing May 2 before DuPage County Judge John Kinsella. He remains at DuPage County Jail, with a bond of $30,000.

Prosecutors said earlier that Ratcliff “intellectually rationalized” the reasons he downloaded, viewed and shared explicit videos featuring girls as young as 3 years-old. He told investigators it was “potentially therapeutic” and a “healthy alternative” to adult pornography. He also said research in Europe determined viewing such images was a way to avoid becoming a pedophile.

At a March 8 hearing, after investigators tracked downloads of child pornography to his computer.