School counselor hid camera in toilet paper holder to film boys under age 12, feds say

A former school counselor in California is facing prison time after pleading guilty to recording boys under the age of 12 in a bathroom, federal officials said.

In 2020, officers searched the home of Matthew Daniel Johnson and found videos of boys as young as age 3 using the bathroom, according to an Oct. 23 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Johnson, who worked as a counselor at La Sierra Academy in Riverside, had hidden a pen-shaped recording device in a toilet paper holder inside a bathroom across the hall from his office, prosecutors said.

McClatchy News reached out to the La Sierra Academy and Johnson’s lawyer on Oct. 24 and was awaiting a response.

When officers searched Johnson’s school office, they found a hard drive with over 100 videos showing 62 minors inside the bathroom, officials said.

One of the videos showed Johnson adjusting a recording device in a different bathroom of a Junior High School Bible Camp where he was working as a chaperone, officials said.

Johnson also said he employed a minor in 2020 as a means of creating more child sexual abuse material, according to prosecutors.

Johnson, 30, of Bryan, Texas, is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 50 years in prison after his plea to one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, officials said.

Riverside is about a 60-mile drive east of Los Angeles.

This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 2:58 PM with the headline "School counselor hid camera in toilet paper holder to film boys under age 12, feds say."