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Press Release

Warrensburg Man Indicted for Producing Child Porn

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri
Project Safe Childhood

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Warrensburg, Mo., man who was previously indicted for crossing state lines to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor, was indicted by a federal grand jury today for producing and possessing child pornography.

 

Thomas Johnson, 22, of Warrensburg, was charged in a three-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s superseding indictment replaces an Oct. 14, 2015, indictment and includes additional charges. Johnson has remained in federal custody since his arrest.

 

In addition to the original charge of traveling across state lines in May 2015 to engage in illicit sexual conduct, the federal indictment also charges Johnson with using a minor to produce child pornography and with possessing child pornography.

 

The indictment also contains a forfeiture count, which would require Johnson to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offenses, including an ASUS laptop computer, a computer hard drive and a Nexus 6 cell phone.

 

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, 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. Johnson allegedly logged onto the Web site and accessed images of child pornography.

 

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Johnson’s residence on Sept. 25, 2015 and interviewed Johnson. Johnson’s cell phone was examined, the affidavit says, and was found to have several explicit photos of possible minor females, including a 13-year-old minor in Olathe, Kan. Johnson told law enforcement officers that he drove to Olathe to meet with the minor victim on two occasions in May 2015. This was confirmed in an interview with the minor victim, according to the affidavit, who also reported illicit sexual contact between herself and Johnson.

 

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI and the Olathe, Kan., Police Department.

 

Project Safe Childhood

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."

Updated March 30, 2016

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Project Safe Childhood