Akron man, 44, facing federal charges of distributing, receiving child pornography files
A 44-year-old Akron man will have a hearing Thursday on federal charges that he downloaded and distributed thousands of child pornography files.
Rudolf A. Johnson of Carnegie Avenue in Akron was arrested April 12 on charges that he was in receipt and distribution of images and videos of young children being raped and other sexual acts.
He will appear in a detention hearing via videoconference in front of U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio Magistrate Judge Amanda M. Knapp.
Authorities discovered an IP address identified as used by Johnson during a February 2023 investigative query used in law enforcement service used to track IP addresses suspected of trading Child Sexual Abuse Material, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed in federal court.
From about April 7, 2022, to about Feb. 21, the IP address associated with Johnson received or transmitted approximately 86,069 files of interest, of which approximately 12,775 files were determined to be severe files, the court records say.
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Investigators said the files were of young children and pre-pubescent teens in various sexual acts.
Investigators identified Johnson as a former attendee of the University of Akron who was a computer technician. FBI surveillance indicated that Johnson worked for Summa Health’s IT department at the time, the affidavit said.
Mike Bernstein, system director of corporate communications for Summa Health, this week said Johnson never had access to patient or employee information during his short tenure.
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“We were made aware of the investigation involving Mr. Johnson approximately two weeks after his employment began in late March of this year. Given the serious nature of the allegations, he was immediately suspended and has not returned to work since,” Bernstein said. “At no time did Mr. Johnson work remotely for us or have access to company equipment outside of the office. Because of his brief employment with us, we have no additional information.”
In an interview with investigators, according to the affidavit, Johnson said he understood what child pornography was and he sought out and masturbated to images that depicts children under the age of 12.
When investigators asked how often Johnson shared child pornography images and videos of children under 12, Johnson said “unfortunately, they are getting distributed from my computer at the moment,” according to the affidavit.
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Johnson denied any hands-on offenses to investigators and said he knew "his conduct looking at child pornography is wrong," the affidavit said.
Johnson told investigators that he also provided outside IT work for other companies from his apartment. Investigators refer to an unidentified Akron business in the affidavit; they notified the business on April 12 that an IP address associated with the company had downloaded approximately 60,000 files of child sexual abuse material since May, and most recently 400 files at 7:22 a.m. that morning.
The business owner told investigators her company used Johnson as its sole IT contractor and that Johnson often logs on remotely and manages the network from home.
Akron attorney James Campbell has been appointed to represent Johnson. A message was left with Campbell for comment.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron man charged with receiving, distributing child pornography
