By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
An Oregon man, who was a Christian missionary running an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was found guilty this week in federal court of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and aggravated sexual abuse.
Daniel Stephen Johnson, 40, Coos Bay, Ore., was charged in December 2014 after serving a one-year sentence in Cambodia for sexually abusing some of the same victims, the Justice Department said. Evidence at trial showed that Johnson was a Christian missionary who traveled between the United States and Cambodia, along with other countries in Southeast Asia.
He started an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, that housed several Cambodian children, and over a period of years beginning in 2005, he engaged in sexual abuse and attempted to sexually abuse at least nine children who resided at his orphanage, the Justice Department charged. The victims ranged in age from eight to 17-years-old.
“While Stephen Johnson held himself out as a selfless missionary helping orphans in Cambodia, in reality he exploited that cover to sexually abuse the children entrusted to his care,” Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said in a statement. “Today’s conviction is a testament both to the courage of the victims, who traveled to the United States to provide critical testimony against their abuser, and to the steadfast commitment of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners to seeing that Johnson be held to account for his terrible crimes.”
