Crime & Safety

Shorewood Man Facing Charge after Child Sex Sting

Police find thousands of pictures and videos at Kenneth Johnson's Shorewood home.

A 55-year-old Shorewood man is facing one charge of use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime after local law enforcement staged a sting earlier this month.

Kenneth Johnson, 4172 N. Newhall Ave., was charged Aug. 7 after he engaged in an sexually explicit conversation with what he thought was a 15-year-old Glendale boy β€” but was actually an undercover detective with the Milwaukee Police Department, according to the criminal complaint.

He chatted with the undercover detective for hours via Yahoo Messenger, email and over the phone. Police would also later find thousands of images and thousands of videos of child pornography in his Shorewood home, according to the criminal complaints.Β 

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Milwaukee police started the sting after discovering an Aug. 2 Craigslist posting, in which Johnson said he was looking for a "son, no age limits."

The undercover detective responded to the listing, and later met with Johnson in an online chat. The criminal complaint logs about 15 pages of conversations between the detective and Johnson as he chatted with screen names bi_dad101 and Sean Smith, including the excerpt below:

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Sean Smith: u like older guys?

Sean Smith: im 44

Sean Smith: u there?

Undercover detective: i like ppl that r like mature

Sean Smith: cool

Undercover detective: u k with me being 15

Sean Smith: how old r u?

Sean Smith: 15 is gr8

Undercover detective: sweet

Johnson finally agreed to meet at , which is just blocks from his Shorewood home.

When Johnson arrived at the high school, he was confronted by the detective and admitted to chatting online with a 15-year-old boy. He told the detective he wanted to see who he was talking to.

If convicted, Johnson faces up to 40 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine.


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