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Stephen Rattley Johnson, 36, is facing years in federal prison after being found guilty on a host of child porn charges when investigators in DC made grisly discoveries on his devices.
According to court documents, in September and October 2020, Johnson uploaded hundreds of child porn files to his Google Drive account, which was flagged and forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and local law enforcement.
At that time, 220 files uploaded by Johnson were identified by Google as child pornography.
Johnson was arrested in October 2021, and a search of his Northeast DC home led to thee recovery of a laptop and phone that were used to upload the illicit materials.
"Although Johnson deleted the child pornography from his computer after Google closed his account, digital forensics experts were able to recover artifacts showing that Johnson had downloaded many of the files as early as April 2020 and that he had opened and watched them," the court documents state.
Many of the files depict "the rape and sadistic sexual abuse of prepubescent girls."
Additionally, prosecutors say that Johnson’s browser history showed that he had navigated to child pornography online—including several of the files he later uploaded to Google—and evidence from his cellphone showed that he continued to seek out child pornography even after Google closed his account.
Johnson was found guilty of five counts of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography involving children under the age of 12.
When he is sentenced, Johnson will face up to 20 years in prison.
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