Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Scott Phillip Johnson - Repeat Sex Offender - 4th conviction

This is Johnson’s fourth felony criminal sexual conviction-adjudication, three as an adult, and one when he was still a juvenile.


A man in prison for fondling a 9-year-old girl was sentenced to additional prison time Monday for molesting a 6- or 7-year-old girl in 2006.

Scott Phillip Johnson, 31, was sentenced to 46 months in prison by Judge Nancy Bostrack after a jury found him guilty Aug. 21 of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim younger than 13. Prosecutors will likely ask that Johnson be indefinitely committed when he is released; if not, he'll be placed on conditional release for the rest of his life.

Johnson is currently serving a three-year prison sentence on a conviction last year for criminal sexual conduct, and has two previous similar convictions in Minnesota and Hawaii.
Winona County Attorney Chuck MacLean said in court Monday that Johnson should be given an aggravated sentence, arguing state sentencing guidelines were insufficient for the case. He pointed to Johnson's multiple convictions, all involving young girls, and said Johnson has repeatedly been kicked out of sexual-offender treatment programs.

"This is, in short, a very dangerous man," MacLean said. "It is imperative that maximum prison time be given."
MacLean asked Bostrack to double Johnson's sentence to 92 months. He also said Johnson will be reviewed for potential civil commitment in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program before he is released. Commitments to the program are indefinite, and since its inception in 1994, none of the program's more than 500 parolees have been released.

Johnson's public defender, Karin Sonneman, said the civil commitment process negated any need for a sentence beyond state guidelines, calling Minnesota's civil commitment process one of the most stringent in the nation. Bostrack ultimately declined to order an aggravated sentence. Johnson was given credit for more than 800 days served in custody.

Johnson molested the child in 2006. According to the criminal complaint, the girl asked her mother what "molested" meant after hearing the term on TV. The girl's mother explained it. Her daughter responded, "That's what (Johnson) did to me," according to the complaint.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte

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