Terminally ill child molester sentenced to 30 years

A Columbus man with terminal liver cancer was sentenced to the maximum 30 years in federal prison late Monday on one count of production of child pornography.

U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land showed Scott M. Johnson, 50, no mercy in imposing the sentence in a rare after-hours hearing that came just two weeks after Johnson admitted in court to video-recording a 6-year-old girl he was molesting.

Prior to sentencing, Johnson spoke briefly, at one point turning back from the defense table and looking at the victim’s family, which occupied two rows in the otherwise empty Columbus courtroom. Land then instructed Johnson to look at the bench and speak into the microphone.

“I apologize for it and wish I could go back in time and change it,” Johnson said. “ But I can’t.”

The victim’s mother spoke in an emotional statement in which she struggled to get out the words. Land told her to take her time, saying, “We’ve got all evening if we need it.”

The mother called Johnson “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“He’s a manipulator, a con man and a predator,” she said. “I ask for the maximum punishment allowed. Standards do not change because of the circumstances.”

The circumstances are complicated by Johnson’s medical condition. He was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer in October and it has spread, said his defense attorney, Jennifer Curry. Johnson’s prognosis in the fall was nine to 12 months to live, Curry said.

Land acknowledged the highly unlikely possibility that Johnson would serve his entire sentence, but was still required to read the terms into the court record should it happen.

Curry spoke briefly in the defense of Johnson, who served 12 years in the United States Army before retiring as a sergeant. He worked in a Harris County volunteer fire department and worked 14 years as an inspector for the Housing Authority of Columbus before his arrest in March 2014.

“He has taken responsibility for his actions and agreed to an expedited sentencing hearing,” Curry said.

Johnson’s case, which was investigated by U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Teresa A. Hudson, was not heard by a federal grand jury. He entered his guilty plea just two weeks ago, and Land set an August sentencing hearing. Because of Johnson’s medical condition, the normal four-month pre-sentencing process was considerably shortened.

He also had two related charges in Muscogee County Superior Court, Curry said. One of those has been dropped and the other placed on the dead docket, meaning the case is essentially over, Curry said.

“His medical treatment, medication and transportation has cost Muscogee County more than $150,000,” Curry said. “By entering this plea our goal was to save the county money and get him out of that system and into the federal system.”

Since his guilty plea, Johnson has been in the Sumter County, Ga., jail.

Though it was not specified in court, Johnson will likely enter a federal prison hospital in South Carolina, Curry said.

Johnson was arrested by Columbus Police on March 19, 2014, and charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes. Using search warrants obtained after the girl told two adults of the abuse, police discovered more than 5,500 child pornography images and 41 child pornography videos on Johnson’s nine computers. The case was removed to federal court.

In addition to the Secret Service, the investigation was conducted by Columbus Police, Lee County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Crawford Seals prosecuted.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Terminally ill child molester sentenced to 30 years."