Former Cop Takes Plea Deal In Porn Case

Admits to making child pornography

By Robert Jordan
Daily Record of Dunn

HARNETT COUNTY – A former deputy of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography in a federal courtroom Feb. 13.

Johnathan Andrew Edwards, of Dunn, is set to be sentenced in May.

The case against him started in October 2023 when a female inmate of the Harnett County Detention Center filed a complaint reporting Edwards grabbed her breasts after showing her a recorded video on his cellphone of him masturbating to child pornography.

The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office immediately launched an investigation into the inmate’s complaint. Homeland Security Investigations Agent Glenn Covington testified during a federal hearing held in March that officials with HCSO summoned Edwards to report to the office for the purpose of beginning their investigation in October 2023.

Covington also testified that when Edwards arrived in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Office, HCSO Maj. Gary McNeill observed him placing some item in a trash dumpster outside.

During the administrative meeting with Edwards, he was asked if he had his cellphone with him to which he answered no, according to online court records.

Edwards was reportedly placed on administrative suspension at the meeting and a lieutenant drove him home.

A short time later, court records show Edwards was seen returning to the parking lot and searching for the item he had placed in the dumpster. That item, which turned out to be a Google Pixel cellphone, had already been retrieved by McNeill.

The phone had gone through a factory reset, but investigators were able to obtain an administrative search warrant for the device to retrieve the evidence that still remained.

That evidence included sexually explicit videos and images; two of the images and 21 of the videos depicted child pornography, according to court records. There was also evidence allegedly depicting text conversations between Edwards and minor children on a site called Omegle.

The website was later shuttered due to lawsuits from victims of sexual exploitation, according to court testimony.

In December 2023, investigators with the HCSO charged Edwards with 10 counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of obstructing justice. Edwards was jailed on a $1 million bond, but was released on an amended bond of $500,000 on Dec. 5, 2023.

He was indicted in federal court on related charges from the same case on Feb. 29, 2024. State prosecutors elected to dismiss their charges against Edwards in lieu of the federal case.

Edwards was arrested on the federal charges March 1 and held in jail until March 8 when U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers ordered his release pending trial with a long list of release conditions.

Edwards was returned to jail, after his guilty plea, to await sentencing set for the week of May 6. A pre-sentencing report is being completed by the Department of Justice.

Prior to the dismissal of state charges, Edwards was facing up to 48 years in state prison. It is unknown at this time how much prison time the sentencing judge will give the defendant in May.

Edwards was initially indicted on six federal charges of producing child pornography and one count each of receiving and possessing child porn. The other charges are expected to be dismissed in the plea deal when he returns for sentencing.