A Merrillville man was sentenced to 32.5 years in federal prison Tuesday for filming himself having sex with a child.
Tyrone Johnson, 36, will also serve a decade on supervised release, U.S. Attorney Clifford Johnson said in a release.
He was convicted after a two-day federal trial in the U.S. District Court in Hammond in August 2023 in a superseding indictment for two counts — sexual exploitation of a minor for the purpose of producing a visual depiction, and committing a felony offense involving a minor while being required by law to register as a sex offender.
The allegations came to light in June 2020 after LaSalle, Illinois, police responded to a domestic battery call where Johnson allegedly punched a pregnant woman.
Afterward, a 10-year-old child told a relative Johnson was “raping her,” according to documents.
The child later told investigators the abuse began around August 2019. She was often left in Johnson and the woman’s care in Merrillville when a relative went to work.
Johnson would abuse her when they were alone after the woman left for the store, the victim said.
The relative acknowledged Johnson had a “history” of abusing children.
During a first police interview at Methodist Hospitals Southlake, the child was “wide-eyed” and on the “verge of tears,” a Lake County Sheriff male detective wrote.
In a second interview with another male detective on June 9, 2020, the child said she only wanted to talk with her relative.
During her third interview on June 18, 2020 — the first with a female detective — the child said recently she was watching cartoons when Johnson went into the bedroom and told her to undress, according to documents.
The relative told police that a witness sent her “disturbing” messages on June 21, 2020.
When police watched it, it appeared to show Johnson having sex with the child.
The witness said a man sent it after he saw it on Johnson’s phone, according to the affidavit.
Court documents note Johnson had a 2003 juvenile adjudication for sexual assault with a victim less than 9 years of age. Other convictions included failing to register as a sex offender in 2008 and 2015. Records noted he last registered with Chicago Police in November 2018.
mcolias@post-trib.com