Naperville Man Arrested for Recording Video of Neighborhood Kids

Last month police raided the house of Renzo Barduagni – a resident of the Naperville’s Wildflower area and seized a large collection of child pornography.

Police reportedly seized many years of video recordings of neighborhood children and multiple high definition video cameras.

He is charged with the following:

• 5 Counts of Aggravated Child Pornography – Possess Film/Photo
• 1 Count of Unauthorized video recording – Victim under 18

Bail has been set at $300,000. He must produce $30,000 cash to be released before his hearing.

Barduagni is an Italian native who moved to Naperville 10 years ago on a work visa. According to neighbors, he lived in the house alone. With these charges, other residents of the neighborhood are obviously concerned that Barduagni may have recorded video footage of other children.

Brett Appelman Comments

I was personally approached by a few of the people that live in the neighborhood in which this case occurred.  Understandably they were angry and scared for their children.  They were wondering if more children had been videotaped by the defendant, and what they could do about it.

In any criminal case, it is important that everyone remain calm and think about possible consequences before they act.  Some of the neighbors wanted to confront the defendant should he be released on bail, others wanted to vandalize his house and cars.

I explained that vandalizing or damaging the defendant’s property was illegal, and would likely get some of them arrested.  We can all understand their feelings of wanting revenge against a man who had violated the neighborhood children.  But being angry is not a viable defense in criminal court.

The best thing to do in a case like this is to contact the prosecutor’s office and explain how upset you are at the defendant.  Tell the prosecutor that you and your neighbors will be in court every time the case comes up and that you will be watching to make sure the case is handled properly.

Another course of action is to call the press and tell them what is going on.  The best pressure that can be put on prosecutors is by reporters asking questions.

Within days the neighbors had spoken to multiple news stations and papers, and made this case a much bigger deal than it might have been without their intervention.