Sex offender used Snapchat to lure 2 Tacoma girls, then abused them in Eastern WA, Oregon
A registered sex offender has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison after sexually abusing two 15-year-old girls he picked up in Tacoma and drove hundreds of miles through Eastern Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
The two teens said they were afraid that Albert Wayne Johnson, 42, would abandon them at a random place along the drive if they did not have sex with him. Both were too young to legally consent.
Johnson contacted the two girls, both runaways from the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services in Tacoma, using Snapchat, according to court documents. They had been reported missing on Aug. 2, 2022.
Johnson traveled about 335 miles from his home in Oregon to Tacoma to meet them on Aug. 5, 2022. He drove them to the Quality Inn in Othello, Wash., where he abused the teens, according to court documents.
He left the next day driving into Idaho and Oregon, sexually assaulting the girls along the way, according to court documents.
Law enforcement traced his route with stops at Arrowhead Travel Plaza on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, a campground at La Grande, Ore., and finally a campground at Boring, Ore., near Portland.
He left the Boring campground for a welding job on Aug. 8, 2022, and did not return.
It’s unclear where they went in Idaho, according to the court records.
Othello Police Department detectives learned 10 days later that the girls had reported being sexually abused in Eastern Washington.
Othello Walmart
Detectives obtained surveillance video showing Johnson and the girls at the Othello hotel and Johnson at the Othello Walmart, where he bought hair dye.
At the end of that month Johnson was arrested at his La Grande home in a coordinated effort by Othello detectives and Oregon law enforcement.
A federal grand jury indicted Johnson for traveling across state lines to engage in a sexual act with a minor, transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and commission of a sex offense by a registered sex offender.
Court documents said that Johnson was convicted in 2018 of luring a minor and attempting to commit sexual abuse.
He had contacted a girl, who was about 14, on social media and offered to exchange cannabis and cigarettes for nude photos of her.
He violated his parole in that case and there was a felony warrant for his arrest in August 2022. He failed to report to his probation officer, changed his address without approval, and failed to complete sex offender and substance abuse treatment, according to court documents.
Guilty plea
Johnson reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors for his sexual abuse of the 15 year olds, pleading guilty to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
He was sentenced by U.S. Judge Adrienne Nelson in Portland to 12 years and seven months in prison, to be followed by 10 years probation.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The case was investigated by the FBI in Pendleton, Ore., with help from the Othello and La Grande police departments, the Clackamas and Union counties sheriffs’ offices, the Union County Probation Department and the Umatilla Tribal Police Department.
