Last Updated on December 18, 2024 3:57 pm
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – James Matthew Johnson, 36, of Glade Valley, N.C., was sentenced to 22years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release today for producing child sexual abusematerial (CSAM), announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of NorthCarolina. Johnson was also ordered to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.
Cardell T. Morant, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in NorthCarolina and South Carolina, and Chief Andy LeBeau of the Boone Police Department join U.S.Attorney King in making today’s announcement.
According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, the National Center for Missing andExploited Children (NCMEC) received a tip that an individual later identified as Johnson wasuploading CSAM to a cloud. Law enforcement initiated an investigation and identified thedefendant. In June 2023, law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant, seizingJohnson’s electronic devices. A forensic analysis of the devices revealed that Johnson possessedCSAM, including more than 200 images and 300 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children asyoung as toddlers. The cell phone analysis further revealed that Johnson had also producedCSAM of a minor victim that included images and videos where the minor victim appeared to beintoxicated. Court records show that, during an interview with law enforcement, Johnsonadmitted that the minor victim was unaware that Johnson was producing CSAM of the sexualabuse.
On March 22, 2024, Johnson pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. He is in federalcustody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designationof a federal facility.
In announcing Johnson’s sentence, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell said, “these offenses areserious, and the Court takes them seriously.”
The investigation was handled by HSI and the Boone Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Cervantes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotteprosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat thegrowing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by theDepartment of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s ChildExploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state andlocal resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via theInternet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project SafeChildhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.