A Carmi man is looking at a very long time behind bars after he entered an open plea of guilty in White County Court Wednesday afternoon on five separate charges of possession of child pornography, according to States Attorney Denton Aud.
25 year old Jedidiah Johnson entered the plea after negotiating with the States Attorney over the last couple of weeks. Johnson was arrested by Carmi Police on burglary and drug charges on April 23rd. After receiving additional information, a warrant to search Johnson’s phone was obtained, and pornographic videos featuring children younger than age 13 were discovered.
Johnson was previously convicted of aggravated child pornography in 2011.
Because of the age of the children in the videos and Johnson’s previous conviction, each charge will carry a sentence of 4-15 years and will be served consecutively with each other, meaning Johnson will be serving 20-75 years behind bars.
Johnson will be sentenced on July 10th at 1 pm by Judge Mark Stanley. He is being represented by Public Defender Rhonda Blades.
Aud praised the Carmi Police Department for their work in this case, stating they did excellent work following their instincts and leads from the public to obtain the evidence.
