Kenosha---63 year-old Leroy Johnson will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for abducting and sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl and trying to do the same with two other victims.
In sentencing the Kenosha man to 60 years in prison Thursday, Judge Mary Wagner told him: "You are a predator and you went out and hunted just as predators do."
The sexual assault and attempted abductions occurred over a span of two-and-a-half years. The 14 year-old was snatched off of a city street at gunpoint. She was repeatedly sexually assaulted and then driven around town naked until she was able to slip away and get help. "The horror and the fear and the psychological terror you inflicted on that girl is almost incomprehensible," the judge said.
Johnson was caught after a victim noted the license plate number of his vehicle. In addition, a private businesses's security camera captured one of the attempted abductions.
Despite the evidence, Johnson maintained his innocence, telling a pre-sentence investigator that his trial was a sham. The report only served to infuriate Judge Wagner. "You're right on film," an incredulous Wagner told Johnson. "So the denial is astounding in my mind."
Speaking for the defense, Atty. Christopher Glinsky said most of his client's life was at odds with the crimes he was convicted of committing, saying that the retired certified nursing assistant was well-liked by his former co-workers, adding that Johnson had never been accused of taking advantage of patients, many of whom were vulnerable. Also at Thursday's sentencing hearing, a woman whom Johnson reportedly had a decades-long relationship with spoke up on his behalf.
Both the woman and Glinsky said things changed dramatically for Johnson after he underwent a pair of heart surgeries that left him with chronic pain and an eating disorder. "After the surgeries, he was a different person," Glinsky said.
Prosecutor Mike Graveley called the Johnson case every parent's nightmare. "Every time a parent has their child leave their home in the modern world it's an act of faith," said Gravely. "There is fear every time."
While acknowledging Gravely's comments, Wagner noted most sexual assaults aren't the snatch and grab variety that are committed by strangers.
-0-