Fort Myers Couple Sentenced Today For Producing Child Pornography

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge John E. Steele today sentenced Alan Robert Johnson (35) to 50 years in federal prison and Jennifer A. Sparks (39) to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography.  They were both ordered to serve a lifetime of supervision, after their release from prison. The court ordered the couple to forfeit numerous cellular phones, several thumb drives, a Micro SD card, a laptop computer, and a Fuji FinePix camera, which were found to contain child pornography.

Sparks pleaded guilty on January 27, 2014, and Johnson pleaded guilty on January 28, 2014.

According to court documents, on or about May 12, 2012, in Lee County, Florida, Johnson and his girlfriend Sparks knowingly used a 4-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. On June 4, 2012, a private citizen turned the cellular telephone that Johnson and Sparks had used to produce the child pornography over to law enforcement. The cellular telephone had been found in a shopping cart at a Walmart in Lee County. Further investigation revealed that Johnson was a registered sex offender. A subsequent search warrant was obtained for his residence, and another cellular phone was located in the couple’s bedroom, containing sexually explicit images of the minor.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes the Cape Coral Police Department, and with assistance from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.