Ex-band Director Admits Seducing Student (IN)
Catherine
Ex-band Director Admits Seducing Student
Story Created: May 9, 2007
By Michael Guilmette
(AP) A former high school band director pleaded guilty to charges of child seduction
and possession of child pornography in connection with a sexual relationship with a
female student.
Jeremy Johnson, 27, entered guilty pleas Tuesday to two of 48 charges in Wells
Circuit Court and then pleaded guilty to one of 19 charges in Adams Superior Court.
Johnson admitted to having a sexual relationship with the Adams Central High School
student, who was then 17, from October 2005 to May 2006. He was suspended from his
job of two years and barred from school grounds last year soon after investigators
began looking into the case.
As part of his plea agreement with Wells County Prosecutor Michael Lautzenheiser, who
handled both cases, Johnson will permanently forfeit his teaching license in all 50
states, and all remaining charges will be dropped at sentencing.
State law recognizes 16 as the age consent for sexual relations, but because the girl
was a student at the school where Johnson taught, he qualified as a child-care worker
under Indiana law.
The felony charges to which Johnson pleaded guilty carry sentences of six months to
three years. Because Johnson has no criminal history, Lautzenheiser said he would
not likely receive much prison time.
Catherine
emid=27
Former band director pleads guilty
BY ERIC MANN
The former band director at Adams Central School, Jeremey Johnson, entered guilty
pleas on Tuesday at courts in Adams and Wells counties to two counts of child
seduction (one in each county) and to one count of possession of child pornography in
Wells County.
However, Johnson, 27, formerly of Bluffton and now a resident of Greentown, will not
be sentenced until February 26 of 2008, the date set by the judge of Wells Circuit
Court. Adams Superior Court Judge James A. Heimann reluctantly went along with that
date, at the request of Special Prosecutor Mike Lautzenheiser, the Wells County
prosecutor, and T. Edward Page of Merrillville, Johnson's counsel.
Lautzenheiser and Page said the longest possible prison sentence Johnson could
receive is nine years, but there is no agreement about what sentence each judge will
issue.
In Adams Superior Court, Page indicated that he hopes Judge Heimann will take into
account the sentence handed down by Wells Circuit Court Judge David Hanselman.
Johnson will permanently forfeit his teaching license in all 50 states, and all
remaining charges will be dropped at sentencing.
Lautzenheiser explained why Judge Hanselman set the sentencing so far ahead, saying
there have been several serious crimes in Wells County, including a murder, that will
occupy him and the circuit court for a number of months.
Johnson was charged last September with 67 counts:
-- 19 counts of child seduction in Adams County, alleging sexual fondling of a female
Adams Central student who was a senior at the time, during November and December of
2005.
-- Seven counts of child seduction in Wells County, alleging sexual intercourse at
Johnson's home in Bluffton with the same student.
-- 41 counts of possessing child pornography, based on Internet images he allegedly
collected.
Lautzenheiser and Page said that, for the purposes of gaining guilty pleas from the
defendant, all the charges were reshaped to fit into these three counts.
Lautzenheiser also admitted that the large number of child pornography charges was
decided upon to make a bigger public impression.
During the investigation, Johnson was suspended from his job at AC and barred from
school grounds. He had held the AC post for two years.
State law recognizes 16 as the age consent for sexual relations, but because the girl
was a student at the school where Johnson taught, he qualified as a child-care worker
under Indiana law.
Page noted that, on February 26, he intends to call a large number of witnesses at
the morning sentencing hearing in Bluffton and at the afternoon sentencing hearing in
Decatur to testify about Johnson's character and background.