LADYSMITH, WI -- A complaint has been filed in U.S. District Court charging now-former Ladysmith, WI high school teacher McKenzie Johnson with Production of Child Pornography.
On August 26, DrydenWire published a post stating that on August 24, 2021, McKenzie Johnson, a now-former high school teacher for Ladysmith, WI, was taken into custody at the Ladysmith high school for suspected possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child.
DrydenWire published an update to the situation stating that a complaint had been filed in U.S. District Court charging Johnson with producing child pornography.
The complaint filed against Johnson states that in March 2021 an adult female made contact with a Fontana California Police Officer and told the officer that she had caught her 13-year-old daughter having an online conversation with an adult male.
The adult checked the juvenile’s laptop and saw an email conversation between the juvenile and someone identifying themselves as “Sam Schumaker.”
Law enforcement connected the IP address from the conversation to McKenzie Johnson, and a search warrant was obtained and executed. Johnson was interviewed the same morning that the search warrant was executed. Johnson admitted that he met the juvenile online through a free online chat website.
Johnson stated that he initially thought she was a college student but ‘learned that she was 14.’ After learning that, he continued communicating with her, according to the complaint.
The video chats involved Johnson requesting the juvenile to engage in sexual activities for him to observe. Johnson also allegedly displayed his sexual activities to the juvenile during the video chats.
Many of the video chats were recorded by Johnson and the complaint states that he told Investigators there would be “lots” of images and videos that he had captured of the juvenile.
Investigators seized an Apple iPad during the search warrant and the complaint states that images of child pornography showing the juvenile female were located on the iPad.
Johnson will appear in Federal Court in Madison, WI, on the charges filed against him, according to the press release from the DOJ, however, a court date for Johnson had not yet been scheduled.
If convicted as charged, Johnson faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison.
Pursuant to the direction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3.6, Trial Publicly, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Last Update: Aug 29, 2021 10:28 am CDT
