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Former DC police officer arrested for sexual assault of a child

John Pleasant Johnson Jr. worked with MPD for more than 30 years.

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Prince William County Police have arrested a 55-year-old man accused of sexual assault on a minor. John Pleasant Johnson Jr., of Woodbridge, Virginia, was arrested May 6 and charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery, three counts of indecent liberties, three counts of forcible sodomy, and two counts of object sexual penetration. 

Detectives with the Special Victims Unit investigated a reported assault on a girl who said she was assaulted multiple times between May 2018 and April 2020 by an acquaintance at a home in Woodbridge. She was between the ages of 12 and 14 during the reported assaults. 

The victim recently reported the incidents prompting the police investigation, and she identified Johnson as her assailant. 


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Johnson was formerly a police officer in D.C. According to a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police Department, Johnson started at MPD in 1987 and retired in 2018. A month later he came back as a senior sergeant until 2019.

"It is disheartening to think that a former member of this Department could be involved in such deplorable conduct," DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said. "Our thoughts are with the survivor and her family." 

Johnson's court date is pending and he's being held without bond. 

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