Arizona man gets 14-year sentence for possessing child sex abuse images

PHOENIX — A Tucson man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for child pornography charges last week, authorities said.

Duane Lee Johnsen, 55, was found guilty of knowingly possessing child pornography in September 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

A three-day federal jury trial preceded the guilty sentence.

After leaving prison, Johnsen will have to register as a sex offender. He’ll also be on lifetime supervised release.

How did authorities catch Tucson man sentenced for child pornography?

An investigation from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) identified Johnsen and other suspects who used file-sharing programs to obtain images depicting child sex abuse, prosecutors said.

HSI executed a search warrant in Johnsen’s home on December 2019.

Authorities discovered an enormous amount of child sex abuse material, much of which depicted prepubescent children, on his numerous computers and digital storage devices, prosecutors said.

He had actively searched for this content, downloaded and saved it and categorized the images.

Prosecutors: Tucson man also had a manual on how to groom children

Not only that, but he had also shown interest in victimizing children.

Johnsen also had a manual on how to groom children, prosecutors said.

The term “grooming” is a series of strategies sexual abusers use to access victims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking.

Additionally, authorities found animated comics depicting children being sexually abused, prosecutors said.