KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Sept. 3, 2015, Eric Michael Johnson, 29, of Jamesville, Wis., was sentenced in Knoxville in the U.S. District Court by the Honorable Pamela R. Reeves, U.S. District Judge, to serve 240 months in prison for using a minor to produce child pornography and traveling interstate for the purpose of having illicit sex with a minor.  Following his release from prison, Johnson will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for a term of 10 years and will be required to register with the sex offender registry in any state in which he resides, works, or attends school.

Johnson pleaded guilty in April 2015 to federal charges stemming from his October 2014 arrest in Knoxville.  Johnson exchanged email messages with an undercover law enforcement officer in which he expressed interest in having sex with a 12-year-old female.  He drove from Wisconsin to Knoxville for the purpose of having sex with the girl.  A search warrant for his cellular telephone revealed that he had previously sexually molested a minor female and made video recordings of the molestation, leading to additional charges pertaining to the production of child pornography.

This investigation was conducted by the Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.