John Johnson
JENNINGS COUNTY — Plea negotiations are ongoing for a former Columbus North High School employee arrested in November after he was accused of trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old boy in North Vernon.
John W. Johnson, 52, was charged late last year with a single count of Level 4 felony child solicitation after he was arrested by officers with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. fired Johnson after learning of his arrest. He had been employed as auditorium director and a drama coach.
Johnson’s defense attorney, Russell Johnson of Franklin (no relation), confirmed Wednesday that plea negotiations are ongoing but declined to comment further on his client’s case.
Jennings County Prosecutor Brian Belding did not respond to messages seeking comment about the case.
Johnson’s arrest stemmed from a Predator Catchers Indianapolis (PCI) sting operation conducted on the dating app Grindr and other messaging platforms. PCI president Eric Schmutte set up a fictitious profile on the app posing as a 14-year-old boy who had been communicating with a man using the name Joe.
Court documents say Schmutte, posing as a minor, arranged to meet Joe at the North Vernon Walmart Supercenter to go somewhere for a sexual encounter. Video of the encounter where Schmutte met and confronted Johnson was livestreamed online and officers who had been informed of the situation arrested Johnson near the store’s entrance.
Johnson requested a continuance on March 1 that was granted, but Jennings Circuit Judge Murielle Bright gave Johnson 60 days to enter a guilty plea, or, alternatively, wrote that the state may request a jury trial date at the expiration of the 60-day period or “at any time after the date of this order.”
Johnson was released from the Jennings County Jail on bond in November with conditions that he have no contact with children, that he reside with his mother while awaiting trial, and that he participate in counseling with an Indianapolis specialist.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
