BOSTON - A former Wellesley High School assistant track coach, who is also a former Harvard University track coach, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for possession of child pornography.
Walter Johnson, 71, of Framingham, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to three years in prison and five years of supervised release. In June 2019, Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
In January 2017, an investigation began into child pornography being traded by a Craigslist user. The investigation led to Johnson, a track coach at Wellesley High School and a former Harvard University track coach. During a search of Johnson’s home in Framingham, images and videos of child pornography were found on his computer and on a thumb drive hidden in his bedroom. He was arrested on scene and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Jason Molina, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the Framingham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, prosecuted the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
