EMPORIUM — A former Emporium Borough Police officer convicted of charges related to inappropriate electronic communications with minors was paroled on Tuesday after serving approximately half of his maximum sentence.
Francis Paul Johnson, 53, of Weedville, was released on parole during a hearing held at the Cameron County Courthouse as part of return day proceedings.
Johnson was sentenced early last year to serve between ten and 24 months in a county jail facility following his guilty plea to one count of felony criminal solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children related to the production of pornography.
Johnson, who had been promoted to the rank of sergeant prior to his dismissal from the force upon his conviction, has been described as a model prisoner during his stay at the Elk County Jail.
He was employed and granted work release when first entering the jail but was terminated from his position of more than 20-years at Morgan AM&T shortly after his conviction. He has been working in the jail kitchen since that time and has complied with all rules at the facility, according to his defense counsel, Attorney Gary Knaresboro.
For the Commonwealth, Deputy Attorney General Christopher Jones spoke to the emotional distress the victim has been under and requested that he stay incarcerated for an additional period of time.
Johnson was last brought in front of Cameron County President Judge Richard Masson for a parole hearing in January of this year, but Masson denied that request because the victim was still under the age of 18 and had yet to graduate from high school.
Masson did approve Johnson’s parole this time around, but cautioned him that if he were to, even accidently, come into contact with his victim it would be his responsibility to leave the area and ensure no further contact occurred.
Johnson will be residing in the Weedville area and has little connection left with the community since his probation will be handled outside of the county.
“(The defendant) also will not be residing in this community and he’ll have no reason to come back to Emporium even to see a probation officer because it will be transferred to Elk County,” Masson stated. “This court will not countenance nor tolerate any violation of your probation…. I’m satisfied this was a significant sanction to begin with but it can certainly be enhanced, if needed.”
Johnson pleaded guilty after it was discovered that he had communicated with a juvenile female who was 15-years-of-age multiple times over a period of several months via text message, Snap Chat, Facebook and in person. The messages were found to be sexually explicit in nature and included explicit photographs and videos.
In all, Johnson served approximately 15 months of the 24-month maximum he was sentenced to serve. Following his release, he will serve the remainder of that time on parole followed by a lengthy probation sentence. Johnson must continue to register as a sex offender for 25 years from the date of his sentencing last year.
