Andrew Paul Johnson, a 44-year-old man who participated in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump, has been arrested on multiple child sexual abuse charges in Florida, according to local authorities.
Johnson was taken into custody in August in Tennessee and extradited to Florida, where he faces charges including lewd and lascivious child molestation of a child under 12, lewd and lascivious child molestation of a child between 12 and 16, lewd and lascivious exhibition, and transmission of material harmful to a minor. He is being held at the Hernando County detention center in Spring Hill, Florida, and has pleaded not guilty.
A probable cause affidavit alleges that in July, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office received a report that two juveniles had been victims of lewd acts over several months. The mother of one child said she discovered Johnson, her ex-boyfriend, had sent inappropriate Discord messages to her son. The child told her that Johnson had molested him three times between April and October 2024, beginning when he was 11.
The affidavit further alleges that Johnson told the child he had been pardoned for storming the Capitol and was being awarded $10 million as a 'Jan 6er', and that he would put the child in his will. Investigators believe this was used to keep the child from reporting the abuse.
Johnson was among roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6 attack who received pardons or commutations from Trump earlier this year. He had pleaded guilty in April 2024 to charges including entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, but later attempted to withdraw his plea unsuccessfully.
This arrest follows a pattern of pardoned January 6 rioters facing further legal trouble, including threats against political figures, life sentences for plotting attacks, and burglary charges.
