Warrensburg Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Producing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Warrensburg, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for using a 13-year-old victim to produce child pornography.

Thomas Johnson, 25, of Warrensburg, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner 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 Jan. 17, 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. 

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Johnson’s residence on Sept. 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. On 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 found videos from Skype communications with the child victim. Johnson admitted that he communicated via Skype with the child 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 child 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. Johnson was identified when he logged onto the Web site and accessed images of child pornography.

This case was 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."