Former substitute sentenced in child pornography case

Oct. 22—A former employee for Cherokee County and Tahlequah schools pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of child pornography, and was sentenced to prison on Thursday.

Hansen Martin Leroy Johnson, 27, appeared in Cherokee County Court for a blind plea. Johnson waived his rights to a jury trial and his sentence was in the hands of District Judge Doug Kirkley.

Agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Internet Crimes against Children arrested Johnson at his home on Nov. 5, 2020. According to a report from the OSBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded a tip received from social media to the OSBI.

At the time of Johnson's arrest, he had been substitute teaching at Grand View School.

OSBI Special Agent Chris Leamon took the stand and said Johnson's case was one of the worst he's seen in his law enforcement career. Johnson's phone was seized the day he was arrested and gave agents his passwords to emails and apps. Leamon said there were over 10,000 videos of children being sexually abused on Johnson's phone.

"I remember the videos being in excess of 10,000 and I believed I stopped categorizing as pre-pubescence at about 3,000," said Leamon. "I would have no problem saying this is one of the worst cases of collection that I've ever seen."

Assistant District Attorney Eric Jordon prosecuted the case and asked Leamon about messages Johnson had discussed with other men wherein the topic was "Sexual abuse of small children."

"In those chats, were there multiple discussions between Hansen Johnson and other individuals in the community about Hansen's desire to rape infants?" Jordan asked Leamon. "Were there multiple incidents where Mr. Johnson indicated that he had a desire to rape a baby to death?"

Leamon said yes to both.

Leamon said Johnson indicated after his arrest that he preferred infants being sexually abused, and he is sexually aroused by infants and toddlers being "penetrated." Johnson also indicated he prefers babies crying.

Johnson's attorney, Dustin Phillips out of Oklahoma City, said his client was up front and honest after he was arrested, and provided agents with all of his passwords and access to his electronic devices.

Phillips told Leamon that what his client had said online was horrible, but asked if there was any evidence that Johnson physically hurt a child. Leamon said it was only discussion.

Licensed counselor Dr. Richard Kishur was sworn in as an expert witness and said Johnson was referred to him for a comprehensive psychosexual evaluation.

"The evaluation is really a nationwide standard. It had developed a protocol to ethically and validly evaluate not only characteristics of offenders and also risk assessment," said Kishur.

Through interview, observation, and sexual interest assessment — a method outside of the awareness of Johnson — Kishur determined Johnson needed some supervision.

"The internet is a realm of fantasy. It is a place where people go to build fantasy relationships in an anonymous manner and avoid the reality of life, and whether that relationship is with an adult or with a child, it really makes no difference. It is a place they go to avoid reality," said Kishur.

Jordon pointed out that Johnson admitted to abusing methamphetamine at the time the crimes occurred. Kishur said he believed Johnson should never use substances or alcohol again.

Johnson himself took the stand and gave the judge a timeline of events that led to his arrest. Johnson said he began using meth as a coping mechanism after friends had turned against him.

Johnson, who was prescribed Adderall, medical marijuana, and an anti-depressant, said he was using meth and marijuana at the same time.

"I resorted back to a website that I had gone to in my teenage years to teach myself how to be a gay person because there was no example around me," said Johnson.

He said watching porn regularly and talking to strange men was part of his learning behavior.

"As a meth addict, I went to this website that I had found myself as a gay person and this website was slightly different. It had a new web chat room called 'Pervert' and I was, at this point in my meth addiction — my self esteem is so low that I enter," he said.

Johnson was asked how he could say certain things online that pertained to sexually abusing a child, and he said he was mimicking the men he was talking to.

"Whenever I got online and I was talking to those men [in] 'Pervert' web chat room, I began talking and matching them because that was the form of love that I had accepted. I spent my time on all five guys in Tahlequah and Grinder, and I was looking for a human connection in the most messed up way," he said.

Johnson claimed he accepted the love he thought he deserved and began matching what the other men on the site were saying and one-upping them.

"I became the villain and I became something I never could have fathomed that I ever would have became. It was matching. Whenever I said those words, it was matching and it was one-upping," said Johnson.

Jordan asked Johnson if he thought he deserved to spend time in prison for his actions.

"I do deserve time in the penitentiary, but I've made so much of a recovery, and have become so much of other people's recovery who are sitting in this very room. I cannot go to the penitentiary because I do not deserve survival mode after saving myself from the terrorism that I caused myself," he said.

Kirkley gave Johnson a split sentence: time served and probation. Johnson is required to seek treatment for substance abuse, being sex offender, and cognitive and mental health.

"I am going to have Mr. Johnson serve 10 years in the Department of Corrections. It's a 20-year sentence; 10 years in the DOC with 10 years suspended, $500 fine plus costs. Which includes a $100-assessment to the DOC for the [pre-sentence investigation]," said Kirkley.

Johnson is ordered to serve post-imprisonment supervision under the conditions from the DOC for a 10-year probation.