Report: Blackhawks prospect facing revenge porn charge
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Multiple sources are reporting that a Chicago Blackhawks draft pick has been charged with one count of has non-consensual dissemination of sexual images, also known as the “revenge porn” law.
According to officials handling the case, Garret Ross, a 23-year-old left winger, allegedly shared a photo of a woman "engaged in a sexual act, which was obtained under circumstances which Ross should have known the image was to remain private." The woman reportedly did not consent to the image being shared.
Ross was scratched from the Rockford IceHogs lineup both Saturday and Sunday after news of the charge broke on Twitter and later on a Chicago sports blog.
A fifth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2012, Ross was allegedly charged back on Aug. 31, 2015, two months after Illinois' "revenge porn" law was enacted.
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The charge is a Class 4 felony which that a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a $25,000 fine.
Although a copies of the case docket appear in the initial reports, the charges have not yet been independently verified by SI.com. A search of DeKalb County Circuit Court records indicated an existing case #16CF73 against a defendant with the player's name, but the records themselves appear to have been pulled from public accessibility.
According to a third report, a plea hearing originally scheduled for February was postponed and will now take place next Monday.
Ross has seven goals and 20 points in 59 games with the IceHogs this season. He is in the final year of his three-year entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent on July 1.