Lexington County man pleads guilty, sentenced to 80 years for sexually assaulting a child

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– According to the Eleventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office, a Lexington County man pleaded guilty to first degree criminal sexual conduct of a minor and first degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Authorities say 33-year-old Johnathan David Johnson was sentenced to 80 years in prison, and he is not eligible for parole.

Jonathan Johnson
Image: Lexington County Detention Center

Eleventh Circuit Assistant Solicitor Ashley Wellman said “Johnson has demonstrated that no child is safe around him.  This sentence ensures this sexual predator will never be able to hurt another child again.”

Investigators say Johnson became a target the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Hydra” in 2014, which was a large-scale child pornography investigation. Officials say he was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for possessing pre-pubescent child pornography.

While Johnson was in prison in April 2017, authorities say they discovered a laptop that had a video Johnson recorded of himself attempting to rape a three-year-old at his Gaston home in 2014.

Officials say Johnson was taken to the South Carolina Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.