Convicted sex offender sent to prison for loitering in park

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

Nov. 2—A Jasper County judge sent a 46-year-old man to prison for two years Monday on a conviction for hanging out in a Joplin park in violation of a state law governing convicted sex offenders.

Tommy J. Johnston II was found guilty Sept. 13 of loitering in a public park at the conclusion of a bench trial before Judge Dean Dankelson in Jasper County Circuit Court. Dankelson sentenced Johnston on Monday to two years in prison on the conviction.

A probable-cause affidavit states that Johnston, who has a past conviction in California for continuous sexual abuse of a child, was contacted by a police officer Jan. 6, 2020, inside a vehicle parked after hours in Schifferdecker Park.

Johnston, told the officer he had just gotten off work and stopped there to watch some videos on his cellphone.