Child porn investigation: Union Grove school administrator pleads not guilty
Child porn investigation: Union Grove school administrator pleads not guilty
The Union Grove school administrator facing charges of possession of child pornography, Thomas Johnson, appeared in court Thursday morning, Nov. 12. He entered a not guilty plea and waived his preliminary hearing.
UNION GROVE, Wis. - The Union Grove school administrator facing charges of possession of child pornography, Thomas Johnson, appeared in court Thursday morning, Nov. 12. He entered a not guilty plea and waived his preliminary hearing.
Case details
What To Know:
Search warrants and the criminal complaint revealed a lot about this case when charges were filed. However, many unanswered questions remain.
One of the biggest questions is who told Johnson about the investigation before investigators were assigned to the case.
Thomas Johnson
In the criminal complaint, it says Johnson admitted he talked with someone from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 22.
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This happened after school, in his office, the day after the anonymous letter was sent out that triggered this entire investigation.
When law enforcement asked Johnson why he didn’t mention that interaction earlier, he said he forgot.
Child porn investigation, Union Grove school administrator charged
Two charges of child pornography have now been officially filed against Union Grove School Administrator Thomas Johnson.
Citing a pending investigation, both the Racine and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Offices declined to identify this employee from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.
When asked about this question, Johnson's attorney Patrick Cafferty said "That's not part of the process in this case. So I don't have anything to say about that."
Another big question is whether the child pornography found on Johnson’s phone was of his past or former students. Authorities declined to answer.
In the criminal complaint, it says the author of the anonymous letter wrote, "I saw his text messages from what I think are passed students or current students that are inappropriate. There were some pictures as well."
The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office didn't give an answer.
That office is leading this investigation because the Racine County Sheriff’s Office handed it off to them, citing a conflict of interest.
In court
What they're saying:
When asked if Johnson had anything to say to the Union Grove High School community, Johnson's attorney said, "What he says is he is presumed innocent, and he has entered a plea of not guilty."
Johnson posted his $250,000 bail and is now out of custody. He has a no-contact order with any minors and cannot use devices with internet capability.
Thomas Johnson (center)
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Johnson didn’t respond when the media asked him questions on his way out of court this morning.
He is expected back in court for a pretrial on Jan. 4.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Ben Hanson and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from Kenosha County search warrants, a Kenosha County criminal complaint, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office and the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office.