Jamari Hodge, Child Sex Trafficking, Indiana 2023

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Table of Contents

Convicted Sex Offender Used Facebook to Solicit Child Pornography

Lorenzo Johnson, a 33-year-old registered sex offender from Hammond, Indiana, has been convicted of conspiring with multiple women to send him sexually explicit pictures of infants and young children. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Johnson used a fake Facebook account to identify women with access to children who were experiencing financial difficulties. He offered those women money to take sexually explicit photos of minor children.

Johnson, who was previously convicted in 2009 in Illinois for aggravated sexual abuse involving a minor, succeeded in persuading three co-conspirators to send him photos depicting the sexual abuse of infants and young children whom the co-conspirators knew. Johnson gave an interview to FBI agents stating that he had solicited the production of child pornography from other Facebook users as a means of blackmail.

Johnson was convicted of three counts of conspiracy to produce child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography, and one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 17, 2021, and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and a maximum penalty of 180 years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. stated, “This verdict sends a strong message that people who sexually abuse young and helpless children — and those who memorialize and disseminate that abuse — will be held accountable.” Acting U.S. Attorney Tina L. Nommay added, “My office will not tolerate crimes against children, and we will continue to partner with federal, state and local agencies to investigate and prosecute individuals whose criminal conduct harms and exploits such vulnerable victims.”

The FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office investigated the case. Trial Attorney Eduardo Palomo of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Kelley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana are prosecuting the case.

Johnson’s conviction was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The FBI and its partners are committed to using every resource in their power to fully investigate and bring to justice those who prey on the most vulnerable members of our society.