A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Nov. 14) sentenced former teacher’s assistant Lance Johnson to 25 years in prison for his conviction of repeatedly sexually propositioning a 14-year-old student at the public school where he was employed.
A jury on Oct. 30 deliberated about one-half hour in finding Johnson, 42, guilty as charged of indecent behavior with a juvenile and soliciting for prostitution involving someone under age 18.
The juvenile was not one of Johnson’s students, although they were at the same east bank public school. Johnson began making sexual advances toward the juvenile on school grounds in June 2022. His behavior escalated to offering the juvenile $80 in cash in exchange for a sexual act and meetings off school grounds.
Click here to read about the trial.
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, the victim’s mother said in impact testimony that Johnson is “a very sick person for putting us through this. You know you were guilty from the jump. Why make us suffer through the pain and anxiety.”
The victim’s older sister testified that her sibling is “traumatized.”
Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court told Johnson that during pretrial proceedings, she was only aware of barebone facts associated with his behavior. It wasn’t until trial that she learned that Johnson followed the juvenile around school grounds and even drove to the juvenile’s home.
“I did not know the extent by which you pursued this child, and that gives me great pause to give you the minimum sentence in this case,” Judge Miller told him.
She sentenced Johnson to 25 years for solicitation for prostitution and seven years for indecent behavior with a juvenile. She ran the sentences concurrently and ordered Johnson to register as a sex offender for 25 years.
Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Molly Love prosecuted the case.