West Virginia Man Charged With Producing Child Pornography And Online Enticement Of A Minor

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Johnnie Gresham, age 39, of Charleston, West Virginia, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges of production of child pornography and online sexual enticement of a minor.

According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the indictment alleges that Gresham committed the offenses between April 2017 and June 2017, in Susquehanna County and elsewhere. The indictment alleges that Gresham used a cell phone and the internet to commit the crimes.   

The charges stem from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The maximum penalty under federal law for these offenses is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. There is also a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment for the production of child pornography charge, and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for the online enticement charge. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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