Lexington County man gets 80-year sentence in child sex assault case
A 33-year-old Lexington County man will spend the next 80 years in prison for attempting to sexual assault a young child.
Johnathan David Johnson pleaded guilty in a Lexington courtroom on Thursday to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and one count of first degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Johnson was sentenced to 80 years in prison and will be ineligible for parole. The solicitor’s office said in a news release that no plea deal was struck before Johnson’s guilty plea this week.
The case against Johnson began in 2014, when he was targeted in a large-scale child pornography investigation — Operation Hydra — operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That operation resulted in Johnson serving more than five years in federal prison on a charge of possessing pre-pubescent child pornography.
In 2017, while Johnson was serving his prison sentence, investigators say they discovered a laptop that contained a video of Johnson attempting to sexually assault a 3-year-old child at his Gaston home. The video was investigated by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and Homeland Security, leading to Thursday’s guilty plea.
“Johnson has demonstrated that no child is safe around him,” said Ashley Wellman, the assistant solicitor who prosecuted Johnson’s case. “This sentence ensures this sexual predator will never be able to hurt another child again.”
Johnson immediately began serving his sentence with the S.C. Department of Corrections.
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