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SAULT STE. MARIE — In September 2018, a detective with a Georgia sheriff's department contacted the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service for assistance with a matter involving a young teenaged girl.
The Cherokee County officer was investigating on-line conversations and photographs involving a 15-year-old girl and an adult male, Ontario Court Justice Melanie Dunn heard Monday.
His probe had tracked someone in this area and eventually resulted in the arrest of a local man.
Joshua Johnson, 31, pleaded guilty to internet luring (communicating with a person under the age of 15 to facilitate an offence) and possession of child pornography.
The offences occurred between Jan. 1, 2017 and Feb. 20, 2018.
At the request of defence lawyer, Bruce Willson, sentencing was put over until March 27.
The U.S. authorities were contacted in February 2018 by the girl's mother after she had checked her daughter's cell phone.
She was concerned about her daughter communicating with a man on various social media, assistant Crown attorney David Kirk said.
The man had sent her pictures and videos of himself.
When the woman confronted her daughter, the teen said he was in his 20s and knew her age, Kirk said.
She learned they had been speaking since 2017.
When the Georgia detective obtained a search warrant he found sexually explicit conversations and videos, Kirk said.
It appeared the accused used several different accounts, and the officer found nude photos of the girl, as well as snapshots of some of the pair's interaction.
Johnson sent her pictures of himself, including explicit photographs, and talked about how he wanted to meet up with her and have sex, the prosecutor said.
He also talked about raping her and getting her pregnant, the judge was told.
On Aug. 20, 2018, the detective discovered further evidence of the communication — a photo the accused had sent of his passport with his name and photograph, Kirk said.
"He was able to piece together," where Johnson lived and that he resided in Sault Ste. Marie.
Georgia police sent all the information they had collected to city police, who obtained a search warrant for Johnson's home and electronic devices.
The warrant was executed on Nov. 19, 2018.
A forensic examination discovered images of the girl, as well as other child pornography.
It determined the contact began when the girl was 14, and a quantity of pictures of her, and screenshots of their chats were located on his laptop.
The court heard that on March 29, 2017, Johnson provided the girl with his "rules."
She was to call him "daddy, sir or master," was to show him her outfit before she went to bed and what she was wearing in the morning.
"You are my property and will respect yourself," and "must take punishment like a good little girl," he told her.
Police uncovered conversations where the pair discussed age.
The girl indicated she was 14 going on 15. The accused responded that she looked older and he was 22.
In the next message, she exposed her breasts.
In June 2017 there was talk about meeting up in Florida.
The forensic examination of the devices also found other child pornography, including video and images of 10-to-14-year-old girls, including "a lot of graphic images of sexual organs," the Crown said.
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