E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California
A former school counselor in Riverside County, Matthew Daniel Johnson, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for child sexual exploitation crimes. Johnson, 34, from Bryan, Texas, was sentenced by United States District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. A restitution hearing is scheduled for May 28. Upon release from prison, he will be subject to lifetime supervised release.
Johnson has been held in federal custody since October 2024. His home was searched in March 2020 when law enforcement seized several videos of minor boys engaged in sexual activity. Some victims were as young as three to five years old.
During the investigation, Johnson admitted to placing a pen-shaped recording device inside a toilet paper holder within a school bathroom at La Sierra Academy where he worked as a counselor. Another video showed him adjusting a recording device in a bathroom at a Junior High School Bible Camp where he served as a chaperone.
Johnson also confessed to using and employing a minor victim in January 2020 to create visual depictions of sexual conduct.
The investigation was conducted by the Fontana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Riverside Police Department, and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sonah Lee of the Riverside Branch Office.
