FORMER SMILEY HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS FOR RECEIVING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

HOUSTON, TX – Melvin E. Johnson, 40, of Baytown, Texas, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Melinda Harmon to 84 months in federal prison, without parole, for one count of receipt of images of child pornography on or about January 17, 2004. His prison sentence will be followed by a life term of supervised release where he will be monitored by a U.S. Probation Officer. He is also prohibited from using the Internet and from working or living near children under age 18. He will have to register as a sex offender once released from prison. The Court also recommended he be placed in the prison sex offender treatment program once he is eligible.

Johnson, who has been in federal custody without bond since his arrest at his Baytown home by FBI agents on April 13, 2005, will remain in federal custody. Johnson’s arrest followed the filling of a criminal complaint that alleged that Johnson, using a computer and the Internet on January 17, 2004, paid for a subscription to a website that contained images of children, some under the age of 12 years, who were engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults. The complaint was filed after a search of Johnson’s home on April 7, 2005, resulted in the seizure of his home computers and computer disks found to contain more than 600 images of child pornography, organized into file folders by content. Johnson was also found in possession of videotapes containing clips of females under the age of 18 years of age.

During a detention hearing in April 2005, an FBI agent testified that Johnson, a biology teacher at Smiley High School in the North Forest Independent School District, had five (5) computers, 186 CDs, 76 floppy disks and two (2) memory sticks, all of which were seized on April 7, 2005, from his Baytown home. The agent also testified that an external hard drive, which Johnson had admitted hiding from his family, contained hundreds of images of child pornography, some showing toddlers being sexually abused by adults.

In assessing a sentence at the high end of the U.S. Sentencing Guideline range, Judge Harmon cited the need for just punishment, specific deterrence and protection of society for this teacher who evidenced longstanding character problems involving arrests, other than honorable discharges from the armed services, and his minimization of acceptance of responsibility.

The conviction was the result of an investigation conducted by the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Martha Minnis.

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