School Counselor Arrested On Child Pornography Charges

A riverside school counselor, accused of placing hidden cameras and secretly videotaping boys in campus restrooms, was arrested on child pornography charges.

The police have said that the 30-year-old counselor, Matthew Johnson, of Loma Linda is suspected and accused of videotaping, downloading as well as distributing child pornography over the internet. The school administrators had confirmed immediate termination of Johnson after the incident, KABC reported.

"We are shocked, horrified, and saddened by what this investigation has already revealed. My heart is broken. We love the children and their families that we serve. Their safety and well-being is our highest priority," school officials wrote in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Fontana police served Johnson with a search warrant. The detectives discovered multiple electronic devices and pornographic images and videos of prepubescent boys during the search. All the evidence related to the distribution of child pornography.

The detectives further procured additional evidence of child exploitation, after serving a search warrant to the La Sierra Academy.

"Under his own admission, we believe that he did install some kind of hidden recording device in a bathroom. We don't know how long that had been going on, and we don't know how many images and recordings were made. Our investigators are right now are sifting through all of that to see if we can identify any of the students who were caught on the camera," Riverside police officer Ryan Railsback told KABC.

Jolie Ramirez, the mother of one of the kindergarteners at the private school, had said that the news was "terrible and horrible." She also stated that she had met Johnson last week.

"Just interactions that he's had with my son. He was very involved with the youth at church here. Just last week, he shook my hand, introduced himself because my son ran up and said he's an amazing person. So to find this out, and I'm like, 'I shook his hand?' I wish I could go back," she told KABC.

The police have stated that there was no proof of images and videos captured at La Sierra Academy being leaked.

The Riverside police further added that Johnson's punishment would be determined on the basis of the evidence found in the hidden camera. There is also a possibility that he could face only a misdemeanor charge if he wasn't sharing the footage with anyone else.

However, parents were frustrated at knowing that there was a chance that Johnson could be let off with a misdemeanor charge.

"I'm gonna put it as nicely as I can, California is a very interesting place and I don't agree with a lot of things that are on the books, and maybe this will change," a woman who did not wish to be named said.