Andrew Paul Johnson, a 45-year-old Florida man who received a presidential pardon for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison after a Florida jury convicted him on five counts tied to the sexual abuse of two middle-school-aged children.
Prosecutors said the jury found Johnson guilty of molestation, lewd and lascivious exhibition, transmission of material harmful to a minor and related offenses. During the trial, police and witnesses described how Johnson used a trusted “father-figure” role to repeatedly abuse an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, exposed himself to them and exchanged sexually explicit messages over online platforms including Roblox and Discord. Both children testified that Johnson told them not to tell anyone and that they were too frightened to disclose the abuse; NPR is withholding the victims’ and their parents’ names to protect their privacy.
Johnson first entered the children’s lives after meeting the boy’s mother at a political rally in 2023. The single mother allowed Johnson, who worked as a handyman, to sleep on her couch. By that time Johnson already had federal convictions tied to the Capitol riot: he pleaded guilty in April 2024 to several nonviolent Jan. 6-related offenses and in August 2024 was sentenced to a year in prison followed by a year of supervised release.
In January 2025, Johnson was among the people pardoned in a set of mass clemency actions by the then-president. After his release he posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Free! At last! Thank you @realDonaldTrump!” Prosecutors say Johnson re-entered the children’s lives after his release and resumed the abuse; he also posted publicly that he expected restitution money from the administration.
Concerned messages the mother found on her son’s Discord account prompted her to confront the children in July 2025 and to contact police shortly afterward. Law enforcement located Johnson in Tennessee and arrested him on Aug. 26, 2025. The jury conviction and life sentence follow that arrest and the subsequent prosecution in Florida.
Johnson’s case has sharpened criticism of the broad pardons granted to many Jan. 6 defendants. Opponents say the clemency actions have fostered a sense of impunity. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told reporters the pardons have made people feel “untouchable” and argued that Johnson’s release enabled him to continue harming children, asking whether the president accepts responsibility for that outcome.
Several other pardoned Jan. 6 defendants have since faced new legal trouble. Jake Lang, accused of assaulting police with a baseball bat during the riot, was arrested after prosecutors say he threatened a police officer at a fifth-anniversary rally; he has pleaded not guilty and also faces a separate felony charge in Minnesota related to knocking over an ice sculpture. Bryan Betancur, who had been on probation and wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor at the time of the riot, was arrested March 2, 2026, on assault and battery allegations after videos appeared to show him touching women on the D.C. Metro; multiple women have since accused him of stalking and harassment.
The Johnson conviction has also intensified debate over proposals to compensate people prosecuted in connection with Jan. 6. Advocates for payments—including some former Justice Department officials—have argued for making prosecuted defendants financially whole. In June 2025 the Justice Department announced a nearly $5 million settlement to the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed during the attack. House Democrats have introduced a bill to bar federal payouts to former Jan. 6 defendants; the measure does not have the support of House Republican leadership.
The administration that issued the pardons has, at times, sought to recast many Jan. 6 defendants as wrongly prosecuted. A White House website described them as “patriotic Americans prosecuted for their presence at the Capitol,” and the former president has referred to rioters as “great people.” When asked whether the pardons undermine a tough-on-crime posture after other pardoned rioters were charged with new offenses, the former president said that if a small number “go haywire” among thousands, that was to be expected and shifted to criticizing political opponents. The White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment on Johnson’s case.