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Daily Chronicle

DeKalb man posted child sex abuse videos on X, formerly Twitter, records allege

Illinois AG’s Office shared cybertip with local authorities in July: Records

Charyan K. Johnson, 23, of DeKalb, was charged Sept. 9, 2025, with 11 total counts of disseminating, possessing or reproducing materials depicting child sexual abuse, including eight Class X felony charges, court records show. (Inset photo provided by DeKalb County Jail)

A DeKalb man faces nearly a dozen felony charges after police allege he uploaded multiple videos and a photo depicting child sexual abuse to the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, court records show.

Authorities began investigating Charyan K. Johnson, 23, on July 8 after receiving a tip from the Illinois Attorney General’s Internal Crimes Against Children Task Force. The task force passed along cyber tips to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office initially flagged through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to DeKalb County court records filed Sept. 9.

Johnson was charged Sept. 9 with 11 counts of disseminating, possessing, or reproducing materials depicting child sexual abuse, including eight Class X felony charges, records show.

If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition Sept. 13 to deny Johnson’s release. Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery ordered him released but with stipulations including that he be prohibited from accessing the internet and placed on a GPS home-monitoring device, records show. Johnson is represented by the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office.

Investigators tracked IP addresses and a phone number related to two X accounts to Johnson. A warrant search of the social media accounts showed eight video files and one photo had been posted to Johnson’s two X accounts, police allege in court records.

Authorities also searched Johnson’s person, vehicle, and home on Sept. 3. Police interviewed Johnson, who told them his cell phone number and email address, which were the same ones used in the alleged illegal postings, according to court records. Johnson told police he had previously viewed child sex abuse materials on X. He denied using the two X accounts under investigation and denied disseminating them himself, according to court records.

But police said when they searched his cellphone, they found the same X account names saved to his phone settings, two videos depicting child sexual abuse on the phone, including one that had been flagged in the initial cyber tip report, records show.

His next court date is 2 p.m. Oct. 30 in front of Circuit Court Judge Joseph Pedersen.

Kelsey Rettke

Kelsey Rettke

Kelsey Rettke is the editor of the Daily Chronicle and co-editor of the Kane County Chronicle, part of Shaw Local News Network.