Nebraska man sentenced 10 years for distributing child exploitation materials following HSI investigation

LINCOLN, Neb. – Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced the sentencing of Jorgen Johannssen, 24, of Fremont, Jan.4, for distributing child pornography following an HSI Kansas City probe.

United States District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Johannssen to 10 years imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Johannssen will begin a 10-year term of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender. Johannssen was further ordered to pay $45,000 in restitution to 15 victims.

In August 2017, a federal search warrant was executed at Johannssen’s residence in Fremont. He was 19 years old at the time and was found to have uploaded more than 20,000 images of child pornography. In March 2021, HSI agents returned to the residence with a second search warrant. Johannssen, then 22, was found to possess more than 290 videos and more than 400 images of child pornography. He admitted to downloading and distributing child pornography about a year after the first warrant was executed.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

Learn more about HSI’s mission to combat child exploitation on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.

HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.