Gainesville man sentenced to 3 years in prison for child pornography
Staff report based on Gainesville Police Department release
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Wednesday, October 23, Matthew Johnson, 26, accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to three years in state prison, followed by two years of sex offender probation.
Johnson’s sentencing stemmed from his August 2023 arrest for nine counts of possession of child pornography and one count of unlawful use of a two way communication device. This investigation was the result of an NCMEC CyberTip from a cloud storage provider. During Johnson’s interview, he initially denied knowledge of these crimes and attributed any possible actions to consuming too much alcohol and “black[ing] out.” Johnson would eventually acknowledge that he did remember the images in question and recalled saving them to his account.
A complete forensic analysis of Johnson’s electronic devices also found copies of the images in question from the originating CyberTip.
Johnson entered a plea of nolo contendere to nine counts of possession of child pornography and one count of using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony, charges that carry a maximum sentence of 50 years in state prison. Judge Phillip Pena sentenced him to five concurrent three-year prison sentences, followed by 24 months of probation. Johnson will also be a designated Sexual Offender.
The Gainesville Police Department wants parents to be aware that children are being solicited and exploited through social networking and messaging apps. These apps, like Facebook, KiK, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram, are also used to share images and videos that depict young children being sexually abused. Please be vigilant and aware of any social networking platforms your children may access. If you have any questions about this incident, please contact GPD Detective Montague at 352-393-7730 or montagueda@cityofgainesville.org. Parents can also find resources at the NCMEC website: https://www.missingkids.org/HOME
BS sentence. Pena is weak on this guy. He should have at least gotten 10 years for his alleged alcohol black out JO sessions. There is no cure or excuse for this type of behavior.
Agreed but receiving a state sentence will definitely teach him a lesson. He will have to fend for himself in there once the other inmates found out what he’s in there for.
With trial, i think sentencing would of been more like 8-10. his maximum sentence was 50 years. but agree sentence is way to light. its 5 years per count so pena should of locked him up for at least that.
Every child sex offender should have to share a cell for a week with “P-Diddy”. P-Diddy should be traveling around to different prisons to “Diddy” Child Sex Offenders.
Gross
He will pay one way or another 👺👹👿💩🤡
Where is the parents, they need to watch what apps their kids are on and what they are sending to others
To bad he wasn’t the son of an X NFL QB … all those charges could have been dropped for a few disorderly conduct charges.
This pedo had 22 videos on his drive that were found by police during the raid and searches of his device. To get it down to 9 counts of possession and only a 3 year sentence is a joke to the justice system. Should of been at least a 10 year stay in prison imo.