A 37-year-old man from Washington, D.C., named Stephen Rattley Johnson, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison for multiple child pornography offenses, including uploading and possessing explicit material. He will also have to pay restitution and serve 10 years of supervised release, during which he must register as a sex offender, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Johnson's criminal activities were revealed when Google found and shut down his account for uploading child pornography. As per their protocol, Google reported the offense to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which then referred to the FBI and local law enforcement. This led to an investigation that resulted in Johnson's arrest. Even though he tried to delete the illegal content, digital forensics experts quickly recovered evidence from his devices that confirmed the charges, as reported by the United States Attorney’s Office.
At Johnson's trial, evidence showed he was involved in the illegal exploitation of minors, with hundreds of files of abuse found on his devices. The United States Attorney’s Office noted that his conviction was supported by his ongoing searches for such material, reflected in his browsing history and actions after his Google account was closed.
Johnson was found guilty on five counts of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography, receiving a sentence that was double the statutory maximum because it involved minors under 12. The case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office and local police as part of Project Safe Childhood, which addresses child sexual exploitation. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul V. Courtney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Lipes, with help from Janani Iyengar and Jocelyn Bond. Project Safe Childhood aims to locate and prosecute those who exploit children online and rescue victims. More information is available on the United States Attorney’s Office website.
