Warrensburg Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Producing Child Porn

A 25-year old man from Warrensburg was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for using a 13-year-old victim to produce child pornography.

The US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri says in a press release that 25-year old Thomas Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Johnson to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration.

On January 17, 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to producing child pornography.

Law enforcement officers reportedly executed a search warrant at Johnson’s residence on September 25, 2015. Officers found several explicit photos of minor females, including the 13-year-old victim, on Johnson’s cell phone. Officers also seized computers and other electronic media from his residence. At a later date, a laptop computer that Johnson had submitted to a local computer shop for repair was also seized and submitted for forensic examination.

During the forensic examination of Johnson’s electronic media, child pornography was located. Examiners say they found videos from Skype communications with the child victim.

Johnson admitted that he communicated via Skype with the victim and saved videos from those sessions, which contained sexually explicit content. Johnson also admitted that he had engaged in illicit sexual activity with the victim on several occasions.

According to court documents, the investigation began in the Eastern District of Virginia when law enforcement agents were monitoring a child pornography Web site where Johnson had an account.

Authorities identified Johnson when he logged onto the website and accessed images of child pornography.

This case was also investigated by the FBI and the Olathe, KS Police Department.