Charges say a St. Paul man drove to Monticello to pick up a 13-year-old girl he had just met on a dating app, gave her alcohol and marijuana and sexually assaulted her at his apartment.
Brandon Jesse Johnson, 32, was charged Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and possession of a firearm without a permit in connection with the incident.
A judge set Johnson’s bail at $80,000, and he remained jailed mid-afternoon Tuesday. An attorney is not listed in his court file.
According to the criminal complaint:
St. Paul police about 11 a.m. Sunday responded to a call to assist another law enforcement agency looking for the girl. Officers tracked her phone to Johnson’s apartment in the 1200 block of Sherburne Avenue in the city’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood.
Johnson answered his door wearing only jogging pants. When asked if he knew the girl, he said she was in the shower and allowed officers inside to check on her. Officers found her on a bed partially clothed.
The girl told police she had downloaded a dating app and connected with Johnson early that morning. She said he picked her up around 3 a.m. at a park near her Monticello home and brought her back to St. Paul. He assaulted her multiple times at his apartment, the complaint says.
She underwent a medical examination at Midwest Children’s Medical Center. She said Johnson offered her “weed” and alcohol in his car and that she felt “completely out of it” and fell at his doorstep. She said he had gun in his car and that it “scared her and made her fear she would get shot if she left,” the complaint continues.
After the assaults, Johnson fell asleep and she texted her mom for help, the complaint says.
In his car, police found a black semi-automatic pistol on the driver’s side floorboard between the seat and pedals. A used condom was in a kitchen garbage can and a bottle of tequila on the kitchen counter.
In an interview at the jail, Johnson denied having any sexual contact with the girl and said he did not pick her up for that purpose. Monticello is just under an hour northwest of St. Paul.
Johnson showed police messages he exchanged with the girl on the Lovely app. About 3:15 a.m., she “reached out and said, ‘Hey,’ to which (Johnson) “told her to come to his place to watch a movie,” the complaint reads. “(The girl) said she couldn’t drive and he offered to go and get her.”
Johnson also admitted the gun was his and that he didn’t have a permit to carry, the complaint says.
Evidence collected from the girl’s examination and a forensic examination of Johnson has been submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing and comparison; results are pending.
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