Child Sexual Abuse Crimes

A Hernando County, Florida jury has convicted Andrew Paul Johnson — a Jan. 6 Capitol rioter who later received a full presidential pardon from Donald Trump — on five state counts including molesting a child under 12, molesting a child under 16, and lewd and lascivious exhibition, prosecutors told NPR. Chief assistant state attorney William Forgie said Johnson faces up to life in prison at sentencing in March after jurors acquitted him on one additional charge of sending sexual material to a child. A sheriff’s report describes months of abuse involving both hands‑on sexual contact and repeatedly exposing his genitals to children, with one victim 11 years old at the time, and says Johnson tried to silence a victim by claiming he would receive $10 million in 'restitution' for Jan. 6 defendants and leave the child money in his will. Johnson had pleaded guilty in 2024 to non‑violent Jan. 6 charges for entering the Capitol through a broken window and defying court orders while on pretrial release, and was serving a one‑year sentence when Trump pardoned him along with most other Jan. 6 defendants. The case adds to a pattern NPR has documented of Trump‑pardoned Jan. 6 participants committing new crimes, sharpening questions about how those pardons were vetted and what risks they pose to public safety.