James Edward Johnson, 72, Greenfield
HANCOCK COUNTY — A Greenfield man accused of sex crimes against a county child in 2021 will have his case settled via a plea agreement, county officials said.
James Edward Johnson, 72, 1000 block of S. Morristown Pike was arrested May 18, 2023 and charged with two Level 1 felony counts of child molesting and three Level 4 felony counts of child molesting from incidents in September 2021.
A jury trial slated for July of this summer in Hancock County Superior Court 1 has been officially canceled following a hearing last week where a plea agreement was discussed. The case has been taken under advisement by Judge D.J. Davis with a preliminary sentencing hearing set for June 5.
According to the plea agreement, Johnson will withdraw his plea of “not guilty” and enter a “guilty” plea to the three Level 4 felony counts against him.
If the court accepts the plea deal, Johnson will have all three counts run consecutively. The plea agreement states the defendant’s total executed or time served sentence shall be no less than 10 years and the total aggregate sentence shall be no less than 14 years and shall not exceed a maximum of 29 years.
The plea also states if any portion of the sentence is suspended Johnson will be placed on sex-offender-specific probation for the duration of the suspended sentence and will be on GPS electronic monitoring.
The agreement states Johnson is to have “no direct” contact with the victim unless approved by the defendant’s mental health professional and the juvenile’s parent or guardian if the juvenile is still a minor.
Johnson has been an inmate in the Hancock County Jail since his arrest May 18, 2023 and will get credit for time served.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an official from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a county home May 14, 2023 for a report of a child molestation. The deputy met with the juvenile victim’s father, who reported that he talked with his daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, after finding disturbing text messages between the child and Johnson on her cell phone.
The report stated the victim told her father Johnson would touch her inappropriately and force her to kiss him. Officials noted the information was given to the Indiana Department of Child Services and the juvenile victim was forensically interviewed at Zoey’s Place May 16, 2023.
During the interview, the victim told officials Johnson had touched her inappropriately many times when she would stay at his home despite her telling Johnson “no.” The victim revealed that Johnson told her that he wanted to have sex with her but he could not because “he was fixed,” the report stated.
The affidavit noted, the victim’s father also saw messages on his daughter’s phone where Johnson told her to “delete” their messages and keep their conversations “a secret,” the report stated.
There were several messages officials noted in the report that were not appropriate for a then 70-year-old man to send to a 12-year-old, officials said in the affidavit.
When officials first interviewed Johnson, he told them he “does text the juvenile victim” and tells her that she is pretty, but only did so to build her ego, the report stated.
