Man sentenced for sexually abusing children in Othello

Staff Report, Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
·2 min read

May 21—PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon man who was convicted of sexually abusing two girls in Othello was sentenced Thursday to more than 12 years in prison, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern Oregon.

Albert Wayne Johnson, 42, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and 10 years' supervised release, according to the statement.

According to court documents, on Aug. 8, 2022, deputies from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office responded to a call of two minors abandoned at Barton Park in Boring, Oregon. The children told the deputies they met Johnson on Snapchat and that he had driven them from Washington state through Idaho and into Oregon, and had sexually abused both during the trip. Along the way, Johnson stopped at a motel in Othello, Washington, where he abused the children, and a campground near La Grande, where he continued to abuse one of the children. After arriving in Boring, Johnson left the children at a campsite in Barton Park and never returned.

In August 2022, after receiving information about the abduction and abuse that had occurred, detectives from the Othello Police Department contacted the motel in Othello and obtained surveillance footage showing Johnson with the two children, the statement said. Officers and deputies from the La Grande Police Department, Union County Sheriff's Office, Union County Probation Department, and Umatilla Tribal Police Department located Johnson at his residence in La Grande and arrested him on an outstanding parole violation warrant.

Johnson was charged in October of that year with coercing and enticing a minor and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to the statement. In November 2022, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a three-count indictment charging Johnson with traveling across state lines to engage in a sexual act with a minor, transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and commissioning of a sex offense by a registered sex offender.

On Jan. 24, Johnson pleaded guilty to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the statement. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.