Credit: Falls Township police
A Falls Township man was arrested and charged Friday following a child pornography investigation by local and federal authorities.
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Richard Thomas Johnson Jr., 43, of Falls Township’s Levittown section, was preliminarily arraigned just before noon by District Judge John Galloway on charges of disseminating photo/film of child sex acts and child pornography. He was released on $750,000 unsecured bail.
According to court papers, Falls Township police received 24 tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children between October 2022 and July 2023 related to suspected child porn that was on Facebook.
Police said 23 of the 24 reports were connected to Johnson’s account as a recipient, and one was him allegedly uploading a file.
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Johnson was connected to media files showing sex acts involving boys, girls, and adults, police said.
Facebook chats obtained by police recorded Johnson messaging another person on the young look of one of the boys. The other person responded that they believed the boy looked 10 to 13. A similar message about a video of a girl who was 9 to 11 year old being raped by an adult man was also obtained, according to police.
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Falls Township detectives and special agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations served a search warrant last month on Johnson’s Levittown home, court papers stated.
Investigators said they spoke with Johnson during the search warrant execution.
“Johnson knew why we were here and said he was in a group chat on Facebook and someone was sharing videos. I asked if he has seen child pornography on Facebook, and he said it was on the Facebook Messenger. The video Johnson said he saw was of a mother and a young child/son. I asked if the child was 4 years old and Johnson said, ‘I have no idea,’” police wrote in a court filing.
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Johnson reportedly told investigators he showed someone else on Facebook a video of child porn.
Records from Johnson’s phone contained messages with the other person on Facebook, police said.
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Ellis Klein, Johnson’s attorney, declined to comment on the charges.
It was unclear if the person Johnson reportedly chatted with has been charged or is under investigation.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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