Former Riverside County school counselor pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges

A former counselor at a Riverside County school pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for being in possession of child pornography and producing it via secret recordings in court on Wednesday. 

Prosecutors say that 34-year-old Matthew Johnson secretly recorded students that used the boys restroom across the hallway from his office at La Sierra Academy by using a pen-shaped recording device hidden inside of a toilet paper holder, according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles court. 

Federal investigators were first made aware of Johnson in 2019, when detectives say that they observed an IP address that was sharing files on an encrypted service. Upon further investigation, they found that those files contained child pornography, a statement said. 

Because of this investigators were able to obtain a search warrant for Johnson's Loma Linda home in March of 2020, where they found a laptop that had multiple illegal video files of children under 12 years old "engaged in sexual activity," prosecutors said. 

While the search was ongoing, Johnson also told members of the Fontana Internet Crimes Against Children task force that he had hidden the small recording device shaped like a pen in the bathroom at La Sierra Academy, the plea agreement said. 

Investigators found an external hard drive inside of Johnson's office that had "more than 100 video files depicting approximately 62 minors." They also say that they obtained video of Johnson as he adjusted the camera he hid inside of the bathroom at a "Junior High School Bible Camp where he was working as a chaperone of children attending the camp."

Johnson pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count each of production of child pornography and possession of child pornography, each of which is a felony. Together, the charges carry a potential sentence between 15 and 50 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and restitution and assessments, prosecutors said.