Incident from Dec. 15 reviewed, where man was spotted looking at images of nude children on library computer; man tells police he is a registered sex offender in Oregon and a sex addict but that he didn’t do ‘anything wrong’

By Buffy Pollock, Rogue Valley Times

Criminal charges will not be filed against a Talent resident reported to police for watching videos of naked children on three separate days in December at the Talent library.

The Jackson County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday afternoon that it found no evidence of illegal conduct after reviewing the incident involving 33-year-old Nicholas Johnson, a Talent resident who identified himself to police as a registered sex offender.

Johnson was witnessed by library patrons Dec. 11, 13 and 15 viewing videos of babies and toddlers. Johnson’s library privileges were suspended for a week after the issue became public when it was first reported Dec. 20 by the Rogue Valley Times.

In subsequent days, however, his suspension was elevated to six months and his library computer privileges were permanently terminated at all branch libraries. While a news release by the D.A.’s office described Johnson’s video watching as “disturbing,” officials said it was “determined that there is no evidence that Mr. Johnson accessed or attempted to access Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) as defined under Oregon law on library computers.”

The release included a 24-minute video containing police body cam and other footage given to police by patrons. In the police body cam video, Johnson admitted to being a “sex addict” and tells police that he felt sexually aroused while watching the videos.

A library patron and staff member are heard during the video telling police that Johnson “zoomed in” and paused to look at the genitals of naked babies and small children. However, Johnson was determined to have been watching instructional videos, or “parenting-related content,” the D.A.’s release stated, showing infants or toddlers in everyday, non-sexual contexts such as bathing or diaper changing.

“Under Oregon law, for an image or video to constitute Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), it must depict a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Mere nudity without sexual conduct or sexualized posing does not meet that definition,” the release said. “The videos Mr. Johnson was observed viewing at the library — while certainly disturbing that he has a sexual interest in those otherwise innocent videos — do not meet that definition and therefore it was not illegal for him to access or view them.”

The release said that further review of the incident was conducted by the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force to identify evidence that Johnson accessed or attempted to access any other videos at the library that would constitute Child Sexual Abuse Material.

Further investigation by the task force included a forensic examination of the computer used by Johnson. However, no evidence could be obtained from the computer, and a task force investigator who examined the network logs of JCLS “observed that the network is configured to only provide live monitoring and does not retain records of internet traffic,” the release said.

Two Talent police officers are shown in the video confronting Johnson, who is seen panicking and frantically unplugging parts of the computer as police approach. One of the two officers can be heard asking Johnson what he’s doing, to which Johnson abruptly states, “I wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

The officer responds, “You’re kinda freaking out a little bit, buddy.” Johnson is walked outside by police and can be heard panting as he sits on a bench in front of the library branch.

Asked why he thinks the police are asking to talk with him, Johnson states, “I was looking up things that I should not look up at a library.”

Johnson was read his Miranda rights and asked if he wanted to talk to officers. He initially said no but relented, at one point stating, “I wanna go home and I won’t come back.”

Johnson tells police he wasn’t looking at “anything illegal” but tells police he felt “ashamed” for “looking at videos of naked children.”

The officer asked Johnson, “Do you get aroused?” to which Johnson said yes. The officer then said, “Do you see how that could be a problem?” Johnson agreed that it could.

Acknowledging his sex offender status in Oregon, Johnson said he didn’t “wanna get caught,” but that he didn’t have internet service at his home. Asked by one of the officers what age group of children he liked to look at, Johnson said he didn’t “want to talk about the minor details.”

Police later go back inside the library and ask to have the man trespassed, according to the video, but employees tell the police that they don’t have the authority and that library administrators are coming to talk to Johnson.

At one point, a man identifying himself as Thaddeus talks to Johnson, telling him he might be asked not to come back for up to six months. The man told Johnson he appreciated him “being very gracious with us in this unpleasant circumstance.”

At the end of the video, one of the two officers tells Johnson that he has “something to say.”

“What you were doing is disturbing. Wrong. Offensive to families and women in here who are trying to enjoy the library. Disgusting. If you want a good word for it, it’s disgusting,” the officer said to a still-nervous Johnson. “If I could find a reason to take you to jail right now, I would, but unfortunately we can’t. So don’t come back here unless they invite you back here. I mean I certainly wouldn’t invite you back. … Get yourself a therapist. Get back into treatment, because what this is gonna do long term is you’re going to end up in jail and probably for a crime that’s going to keep you there for a long time.”

In a written joint statement released late Thursday afternoon, Jackson County Library Services and the district board expressed appreciation for the work of the D.A.’s office, Talent police and the high-tech crimes task force.

“While the report concludes that no crime occurred, JCLS recognizes the concern this situation caused for our patrons and community,” the statement said. “From the beginning, our priority has been to act responsibly to protect the safety and well-being of everyone who uses our libraries.

“The precautionary measures we implemented, including suspension of the individual involved, permanent revocation of internet privileges, and immediate policy review, were taken to uphold that commitment,” the statement said.

Library board president Susan Kiefer was quoted as saying, “As custodians of public spaces, we have a fundamental responsibility to ensure the safety and well being of everyone who walks through our doors. … These recent events highlight that there is always room to strengthen our policies and response practices.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to creating library environments that are safe, welcoming, and supportive for every member of our community,” Keifer said.

Library board members met in executive session Thursday morning for the latest in a series of recent closed board meetings, but no decisions were made in open session. The board during a meeting last week voted to spend up to $10,000 to formally investigate the Talent library incident in addition to personnel issues that have also recently come to light.

Meanwhile, library district director Kari May, following public outcry over the incident involving Johnson, was placed on a two-week leave earlier this month, through Jan. 21.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.