LUBBOCK, TX—Lyle Shane Johnson, 45, of Lubbock,
Texas, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to six
counts of production and attempted production of child pornography, involving
six separate victims, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern
District of Texas. Johnson faces a maximum statutory sentence of not less than
15 or more than 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime of
supervised release on each count. Judge Cummings ordered a pre-sentence
investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the completion of
that report.
Johnson has been in custody since his
arrest in June 2012 by officers with the Lubbock Police Department.
Johnson admitted that on December 25,
2009; July 27, 2010; August 27, 2010; January 24, 2011; March 16, 2011; and
December 27, 2011, he used six individual minor females, including some younger
than 12 year old, to produce images and videos of the minors engaged in
sexually explicit conduct. At times, Johnson photographed himself, together
with the minor female, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was brought as part of Project
Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department
of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and
abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child
Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal,
state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute
individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please
visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”
The investigation is being conducted by
the FBI and the Lubbock Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M.
Sucsy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lubbock, Texas, is in charge of the
prosecution.
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