Spartanburg Herald Journal | Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Retired Spartanburg police officer convicted of molesting teen
By RACHEL E. LEONARD
Staff Writer

A retired Spartanburg police officer was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of sexually molesting a teenage girl for four years, beginning when she was 13.

Jurors – including a former victim advocate – deliberated for less than 30 minutes Tuesday before finding Donald “Don” Hugh Johnson, 66, guilty of three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, committing a lewd act on a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Johnson, who served as a traffic officer for the Spartanburg Public Safety Department from 1973 until his retirement in 1995, used the teenager as his “private sex toy” from 2001 until 2005, when she reported the allegations, said Assistant Attorney General Alan Wilson.

The teenager, who is not being named by the Herald-Journal to protect her identity, said after the sentencing she was just happy the ordeal was over.

“He told me because he was a retired police officer that no one would believe me, and all he had to do was put one doubt in one juror’s mind for him to be innocent, and it scared me,” said the teenager, now 19. “But today, I proved him wrong.”

Johnson, a resident of 208 Red Raven Drive, Greer, maintained he never touched the teenager in a sexual manner.

Two-day trial

After the two-day trial, Circuit Judge Derham Cole sentenced Johnson to 18 years each on the three criminal sexual conduct charges, 15 years on the lewd act charge and three years on the contributing to the delinquency charge. The sentences will run at the same time, and Johnson will be eligible for release after serving 85 percent of the 18-year total sentence.

Wilson, whose office prosecuted the case to avoid a conflict of interest because of Johnson’s past in local law enforcement, said he was obviously pleased with the verdict.

“The victim was very credible, very sincere, and she did a really good job telling her story,” he said.

Closing arguments

Defense attorney Andy Johnston suggested the teenager fabricated the claims and questioned why she didn’t report the allegations earlier, if they were true. He suggested the teenager was unduly influenced to move ahead with the allegations by a woman who did not like his client.

Johnson also said the teenager incorrectly described an identifying mark on Johnson’s pelvic area, but prosecutors said her description was accurate and the discrepancy arose from confusion over which side of the body the teenager was referring to.

Wilson also said the teenager correctly described other marks on Johnson’s genitals that she wouldn’t have known without close sexual contact. He told jurors Johnson gave the girl alcohol, taught her to play strip poker, abused her using a sex toy and engaged in oral sex with her on countless occasions.

It’s not uncommon for sexual abuse victims to delay reporting such traumatic events, Wilson said, arguing that the teenager wouldn’t endure the embarrassment of making her claims public in court if she were lying.

Sitting on the jury was a former Spartanburg Public Safety victim advocate, Debbie Sellars, who also once coordinated volunteer services for the Council on Sexual Assault/Rape Crisis of Spartanburg. She did not work at the Public Safety Department when Johnson was employed there.

Sellars was terminated from the city in January and later charged, along with former Spartanburg Fire Capt. Dale Horton, with operating a gaming house. That charge is pending. Johnston represented Horton, who had once dated Sellars, in court on unrelated federal charges.

Neither the defense nor the prosecution objected to Sellars being on the jury.