Union Grove superintendent pleads not guilty to child pornography charges

Union Grove superintendent pleads not guilty to child pornography charges Johnson waived his preliminary hearing in court Thursday, and a commissioner bound him over for trial Advertisement Updated: 1:23 PM CST Nov 12, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ James Stratton Reporter Union Grove superintendent pleads not guilty to child pornography charges Johnson waived his preliminary hearing in court Thursday, and a commissioner bound him over for trial Updated: 1:23 PM CST Nov 12, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ James Stratton Reporter KENOSHA, Wis. — The superintendent of Union Grove High School, Thomas Johnson, pleaded not guilty Thursday to two felony counts of possession of child pornography. Johnson waived his preliminary hearing in court Thursday, and a commissioner bound him over for trial. Johnson offered no comment to WISN 12 News after the hearing as he walked out flanked by a few supporters. Advertisement Deputies arrested Johnson on Nov. 4 during a search of his rural Burlington home. Records show Johnson paid a $250,000 bond and is out of custody. The investigation began with an anonymous letter received by the Racine County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 22, according to court records. The writer claimed to have had an affair with Johnson and alleged seeing inappropriate messages and pictures on his phone involving people the writer believed were current or former students, according to the criminal complaint. The author's identity is not established in the court documents. Johnson acknowledged an affair but said he did not know who wrote the letter and denied inappropriate contact with students, the complaint says. Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis told WISN 12 News last week they don't have evidence of any inappropriate contact with students. Racine County investigators first interviewed Johnson at his home on Oct. 23, court records show. He provided his personal and work phones and consented to a review, according to the criminal complaint. An investigator described the phones as "suspiciously clean," saying several social media platforms had been wiped, deleted, or uninstalled. Court records show Johnson told investigators he deleted Snapchat and internet history showing visits to adult pornography websites because he did not want his wife to see them. The case was referred to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 27, the complaint states. Two days later, detectives obtained a search warrant for Johnson’s phones and conducted a forensic review. A detective reported finding two images on Johnson’s personal phone whose digital fingerprints matched previously reported child sexual abuse material in a National Center for Missing & Exploited Children database, the complaint states. The center told investigators it was working to identify the children, according to the complaint. Neither image appears to be of students, according to District Attorney Solis. When a detective showed Johnson versions of the images with explicit areas obscured, Johnson acknowledged that one depicted a child, the complaint says. Johnson's attorney, Patrick Cafferty, told WISN 12 News Thursday he is awaiting discovery materials to defend the case. "Tom Johnson is entitled to the presumption of innocence, we're very early in the process and we look forward to preventing his side of the story when the time is appropriate," said Cafferty. "Right now we are very early and don't have all the information that we need to be able to do that." Search warrant: Letter alleging affair leads to child porn found on Union Grove HS admin's phone Make WISN a preferred source on Google Add Preferred Source Share Infinite Scroll Enabled Top Picks 1 killed, four injured in D.C. shooting that began at gym; suspect dead Brooklyn building collapse killed 2 children and 6 adults, mayor says Why are gas prices dropping and how low will they go? WATCH: Ocean liner SS United States is sunk off Florida's coast after a long goodbye