Andrew Paul Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing children. Johnson received a full pardon from President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot. Dozens of former Capitol rioters have gotten into legal trouble since their pardons.
Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
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Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
Just months after President Trump’s mass pardons for Jan. 6 rioters freed him from prison, a Florida man repeatedly sexually abused two middle-school aged children.
On Thursday, the man, Andrew Paul Johnson, was sentenced to life in prison, after a Florida jury found him guilty of five criminal charges, including molestation, lewd and lascivious exhibition and transmission of material harmful to a minor.
Police reported that Johnson, 45, tried to keep the children quiet by telling them he would share millions of dollars in restitution money he expected to receive from the Trump administration in connection with his Jan. 6 case.
“He said not to tell anybody,” one of Johnson’s victims testified.
Both children later testified that they were too afraid to tell any adults about what they had endured, according to trial records obtained by NPR.
“We were scared,” Johnson’s other victim testified. “Like, we didn’t realize that this stuff was not okay because we were 12 years old.”
NPR does not name victims of sexual abuse and is also withholding the names of their parents to protect their privacy.
Johnson is one of several pardoned Capitol riot defendants who have been arrested for new crimes since receiving clemency for their actions during the 2021 insurrection. Opponents of Trump’s mass pardons say the president’s actions have instilled a sense of impunity among members of the mob who stormed the Capitol.
“They think they’re untouchable,” said Congressman Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who served on the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack. Trump’s pardons, Raskin told NPR, “definitely have made Americans less safe.”
In just the last week, two former Jan. 6 defendants were arrested in the Washington, D.C.
Jake Lang, who was charged with assaulting police with a baseball bat during the riot, was arrested for allegedly threatening a police officer who had also previously protected the Capitol. Lang has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Additionally, Lang appeared in court in St. Paul, Minn., this week on a felony charge of damaging property after posting a video of himself knocking down an ice sculpture. Meanwhile, Bryan Betancur, who has a lengthy criminal record, was also arrested this week on charges of assault and battery. Betancur was on probation and wearing a court-mandated GPS monitor for a prior burglary conviction at the time of the Capitol riot. His latest arrest came after videos emerged showing him touching women’s hair while riding the D.C. Metro. The White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment. The suspect was brought into custody on charges of assault and battery.
My feelings towards her changed, leading me to distance myself and avoid spending time together.
In July 2025, the boy’s mother confronted both children after discovering concerning messages from Johnson on the boy’s Discord account.
“She inquired if he had done anything wrong,” the girl recounted in her testimony. “Initially, we hesitated to admit it out of fear. However, after repeated questioning, I felt compelled to tell [the boy] that we needed to come clean.”
Subsequently, the mother contacted the authorities.
On August 26, 2025 — just seven months after Johnson was granted a full presidential pardon — law enforcement located him in Tennessee, and he was taken back into police custody.
‘Reparations’ for Jan. 6 defendants?
The child sexual abuse case involving Andrew Paul Johnson has shed light on a controversial suggestion to use taxpayer money to compensate former riot defendants.
Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney, and Jonathan Gross, an official at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, have advocated for financial restitution for individuals involved in the January 6 riot.
“I believe that individuals who have been wronged and harmed by their government should receive support to try to restore them as much as possible,” Martin expressed in an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson last year. “It’s only fair.”
“There needs to be some form of compensation,” Gross stated on a podcast in December 2024. “People’s lives have been shattered, and one way to address this is by allowing them to file lawsuits and settle them.”
The Department of Justice did not provide a response to NPR’s inquiry.
In June 2025, the Justice Department announced a nearly five million dollar settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was fatally shot by police while attempting to breach an area near the U.S. House of Representatives floor.
During the Biden administration, the Department of Justice exonerated the officer who shot Babbitt of any wrongdoing.
A group of House Democrats has introduced a bill to prevent any payouts to former January 6 defendants. This bill, lacking support from House Republican leadership, cannot become law unless reintroduced in a future Congress.
The proposal aims to “prohibit the use of federal funds to compensate individuals who were prosecuted for their involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol.”
“The pardoned individuals from the January 6 insurrection and riots believe they are entitled to millions of dollars from the federal government,” stated Raskin, a co-sponsor of the bill. “As Donald Trump continues to praise them, they see themselves as victims rather than perpetrators of a crime.”
Raskin argued that Johnson’s case illustrates the repercussions of Trump’s pardons.
“It was only due to Donald Trump’s pardon that Johnson was released from prison and able to continue his abhorrent behavior of child sexual abuse,” Raskin pointed out. “What is the president’s accountability in this situation? Does he acknowledge the consequences of his actions?”
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