Teen Sex | Former Assistant Fire Chief Sent To Prison For Sex With Teen

Matthew Paul Johnson was ordered in Butler County Common Pleas Court Tuesday to spend the next three years behind bars after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 14-year-old girl.

Johnson, 47, a 33-year fire department veteran who had been employed as a road maintenance crew employee since 1999. He resigned both township positions in April shortly after his arrest. According to prosecutors,

Johnson also was convicted in 1983 of felony gross sexual imposition involving a 10-year-old.

In the recent case, Johnson, of Hamilton-Trenton Road, had sex with the girl, now 15, who was a family acquaintance, twice in the front seat of a pickup truck.

Family members of both the victim and Johnson were in Judge Charles Pater’s courtroom Tuesday when Johnson offered an apology.

"I take full responsibility," Johnson said. "I am very sorry. I was wrong."

The grandmother of the teen girl was disappointed with the fact that Johnson was a firefighter, which was offered as mitigation.

"This man had sex with a 14-year-old girl. That is not a hero. This girl was innocent and gullible and he preyed on that," the grandmother said.

Pater expressed doubt about Johnson’s acceptance of responsibility, noting that at age of 20 he was convicted of gross sexual imposition involving a 10-year-old child, for which Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McElfresh said he received a suspended sentence.

In a pre-sentence investigation, Pater said Johnson, a married father of two, referred to the teen victim as his girlfriend.

"To describe the victim as a girlfriend and that whole mindset is rather mind boggling," said Pater, adding his attitude shows "callousness to the protection of children in society."

Johnson was sentenced to three years in prison on each charge to run concurrently. He also was classified as a Tier II sexual offender. Once he is released from prison, he will be required to register with the sheriff’s office every 180 days for 25 years.

The father of the victim said he was shocked to learn Johnson had a previous conviction.

The township now runs background checks on all employees, squad members and firefighters, said Trustee Gary Couch, "but I don’t know how it was back then," said Couch, who added he, too, is shocked by Johnson’s convictions.

"This is a part of Matt Johnson, I have never seen," Couch said.

St Clair Twp. Fire Chief Terry White said background checks are standard procedure now and have been since he became chief in 1996. "But back then, whoever was chief, I don’t know what the policy was," he said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.