Youth pastor pimped teenager, lived off her earnings beginning when she was 12, police say
A youth pastor who volunteered at an undisclosed church in Alabama has been arrested and charged in Plantation, Florida, with one count of living off the earnings of a teenager he allegedly began pimping when she was just 12.
The youth pastor, Stephen Johnson, 40, is accused of trafficking the now 17-year-old alleged victim and taking 40% of the $100,000 she made, Local 10 reported.
Johnson reportedly worked as a volunteer youth pastor guiding children aged 5 to 18 in Alabama for 12 years. He was also accused of attempted rape and strangulation in 2019 but was never convicted.
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The Plantation Police Department would not immediately disclose the name of the church where Johnson volunteered when questioned by The Christian Post on Friday. An official with the department told CP they wouldn't be releasing the name of the church just yet because the investigation into the allegations against him remains ongoing.
An affidavit cited by NBC Miami said Johnson first met the girl on a social media app when she was 12, and selling nude images online. He pretended to be a woman and offered to help her sell more nude content.
The relationship between the two continued until the alleged victim turned 17, when she flew to Birmingham, Alabama. Johnson allegedly advertised the victim as an escort online and coerced her into performing commercial sex acts for money.
The youth pastor later moved to South Florida with the alleged victim after she got accepted to college and continued to force her to sell her body for money across several states, prosecutors said.
“Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and now Florida and Washington D.C.,” prosecutors said.
At a court appearance on Thursday, a judge ordered Johnson to stay away from the alleged victim and have no contact with minors as prosecutors argued that he is a danger to the community.
“I don’t think it is safe for females in the community to have him traveling about, not knowing where he is,” a prosecutor said, according to Local 10.
The youth pastor is in jail on a $500,000 bond.
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