A 31-year-old Waukesha man — allegedly caught with thousands of videos and pictures of child pornography, some featuring kids possibly as young as 3 years old — claimed he was 'relieved' when officers arrested him.
Keith Johnson, 301 S. Grand Ave., was charged July 23 in Waukesha County Circuit Court with 10 counts of child porn possession and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
Johnson faces up to nearly 300 years in prison and $1.1 million in fines, if convicted.
According to the criminal complaint, police found more than 2,500 pornographic videos on Johnson's phone and computer in addition to an estimated 20,000 pictures, which Johnson is accused of downloading from a peer-to-peer, file-sharing website.
A Waukesha County detective traced Johnson's IP address to his residence, then executed a search warrant at the Grand Avenue property on July 22.
A child in one of the videos recovered by police was described as being 'toddler-aged' in the complaint.
Johnson told officers he had struggled for years with an addiction to child pornography, that he had previously been caught viewing it more than once by family members and that he had been speaking to a psychiatrist about the problem, according to the complaint.
Johnson also reportedly admitted to sharing a number of photos and videos with other users in the file-sharing network.
He added that he was now taking full responsibility for his actions because he had the opportunity to stop viewing child pornography in the past but had not.
Court records indicate that Johnson is being held at the county jail on a $10,000 cash bond.
His next court hearing is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 4.