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Coos Bay man pleads not guilty to sexually abusing Cambodian boys

By Jack Moran
Register-Guard
June 20, 2017

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/35691210-75/coos-bay-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-sexually-abusing-cambodian-boys.html.csp

Daniel Stephen Johnson

A federal grand jury has returned an eight-count indictment against a missionary worker from Coos Bay who is accused of molesting six underage boys while in Cambodia between 2005 and 2013.

Daniel Stephen Johnson, 39, pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Eugene. Johnson appeared via telephone from a federal prison in Sheridan, where he’s being held while his case is pending.

One of the charges listed in the indictment, aggravated sexual assault, carries a minimum prison sentence of 30 years upon conviction.

Johnson was arrested in the case in December 2014, after authorities in Cambodia handed him over to a team of FBI agents who brought him to Oregon.

At the time, Johnson had just completed a one-year prison sentence in Cambodia for sexually abusing five boys who were in his care at an orphanage that he had operated there, according to multiple media reports.

Upon his return to the United States, Johnson was charged with one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

The new indictment expands the charges to include six counts of that crime, along with single counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and aggravated sexual assault.

The charging document indicates that one of Johnson’s alleged victims was younger than 12.

It was not immediately clear Monday if any of the children named as victims in the federal case are the same youngsters involved in the case that resulted in Johnson serving prison time in Cambodia. Federal authorities have not released detailed information regarding the allegations outlined in the indictment.

Johnson’s public defender, Craig Weinerman, declined comment after Monday’s court hearing.

According to a 2014 report by Texas television station KLTV, Johnson’s work with nonprofit ministry Hope Transitions had been funded for several years by a Calvary Baptist Church in Gladewater, Texas. Johnson resigned from the organization after the allegations surfaced, according to the report.

A 2003 federal law aimed at preventing child abuse makes it a crime for any U.S. citizen to have illegal sexual contact with a minor in a foreign country.

Contact: jack.moran@registerguard.com




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