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JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A Pearl River County man will spend the next 30 years in prison after being found guilty of producing child pornography.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, Garald Benson Johnson admitted to filming himself having sexual intercourse with a minor.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 16, 2023. He pleaded guilty in August.

The case was investigated by the Choctaw Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian K. Burns prosecuted the case.

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 U.S. 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 exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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