RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A former counselor at a Christian academy in Riverside pleaded guilty in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday to federal criminal charges for having possessed child pornography and producing it by secretly recording students using the boys restroom across from his office at the private school.
During a March 2020 search of his Loma Linda home, Matthew Johnson possessed a laptop containing numerous illegal video files of prepubescent boys engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
At the time of the search, Johnson admitted to members of the Fontana Internet Crimes Against Children task force that he had hidden a pen-shaped recording device in a toilet paper holder inside of a school bathroom, across the hall from his office at La Sierra Academy, the plea agreement states.
Inside the office, investigators found an external hard drive containing over 100 illicit video files depicting over 60 minors, created by Johnson with a camera he installed inside the bathroom, according to the document. Court papers show that Fontana ICAC also recovered videos of the defendant adjusting the hidden recording device.
SUGGESTED: Assistant Principal in San Bernardino County arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a minor
Another video file found by investigators depicted Johnson adjusting a recording device inside a different bathroom at a junior high school Bible camp where he was working as a student chaperone, the plea agreement says.
Johnson, 34, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one federal count each of production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The charges together carry a potential sentence of between 15 and 50 years behind bars, a lifetime period of supervised release, a $500,000 fine, plus restitution and assessments, federal prosecutors said.
Following his plea, Johnson, who had been free on bond, was taken into federal custody to await sentencing on Feb. 5.
La Sierra Academy is a K-12 accredited Seventh-day Adventist Christian school. Johnson was fired from the school upon his arrest in March 2020.
Federal agents first became aware of Johnson in 2019 when detectives observed an IP address sharing files on an encrypted service. Those files turned out to contain child pornography, officials said.
In January 2021, attorneys for three of Johnson's victims ages 8 to 13 filed a civil lawsuit against him, La Sierra Academy, and the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, seeking unspecified damages. The parents of a fourth child filed a similar suit against the same defendants in April 2021.