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Lost Cell Phone Leads to Child Porn Arrests

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on July 03, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A lost cell phone found at a Florida Walmart contained child porn videos that led to the arrest of a registered sex offender and his housemate.

Sex offender Alan Robert Johnson, 33, and Jennifer A. Sparks, 37, were arrested on suspicion of molesting a 4-year-old girl allegedly seen in the cell-phone porn videos, Ft. Myers' WINK-TV reports. The girl's parents are now under investigation.

Customers at a Walmart in Coral Gables, Fla., found the cell phone in a shopping cart. They called police after they found pornographic images on the phone.

The cell phone child-porn images allegedly showed Alan Johnson and Jennifer Sparks abusing the 4-year-old girl "in every way imaginable," Lee County, Fla.'s sheriff told WINK in an on-air interview. "My most seasoned detectives here said that it's the worst they've ever seen," he said.

The alleged couple's lost cell phone contained many clues that led to their arrests, investigators say.

A search warrant allowed detectives to delve into the phone's contents. They linked the phone's number to Sparks, and also found Johnson's email address on the phone, which led them to his public Facebook page. The Facebook page also promoted Johnson's adult toy website, according to Ft. Myers' WBBH-TV.

In Florida, registered sex offenders must notify authorities before using a social-networking website, police told Northwest Florida Daily News. It's not clear if Johnson did this. (In addition, Facebook's policy bars sex offenders from joining the site.)

Sparks' cell phone also contained the number for a detective in the local sex offender unit. That detective recognized Johnson's name and led deputies to Johnson and Sparks' home.

Alan Johnson and Jennifer Sparks are charged with sexual battery on a victim under 12, promoting sexual performance by a child, and possession of child pornography, WBBH reports. They are being held without bail.

The 4-year-old girl is in protective custody, but it's not clear how she wound up in a sex offender's cell phone child-porn videos. The girl's parents may have been paid for her participation, investigators told WINK.

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