A nine-year federal prison term was handed down June 30 to a man who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of two 15-year-old girls in National City.
Robert Darryl Johnson, 27, who goes by the nickname of “Scooby,” was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William Hayes for his role in bringing both girls to National City in April, 2015 and getting them to act as prostitutes.
A National City police officer stopped a 15-year-old girl in the 500 block of National City Boulevard at 7:30 a.m. on April 11, 2015. The area was known for men picking up prostitutes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The girl initially didn’t give her true age or name, but eventually told the officer her pimp was staying at a National City motel and he drove her down from Los Angeles with another girl. She performed sex for money and gave all her earnings to Johnson.
The girl said Johnson carried a real gun and a pellet gun. Johnson was staying at the motel with his wife, Ashley Johnson, 26. Both were eventually arrested and Ashley Johnson also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.
Ashley Johnson was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison on June 14 by Hayes. Her projected release date is May 9, 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prison Terms. A release date for Robert Johnson has not yet been determined.
Robert Johnson will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years after his release, according to court records. He has been in jail since Oct. 20, 2015. A previous judge denied bail because of the crime and noted that he had an unloaded gun in his car trunk at the time of his arrest.
The Johnsons had to forfeit a Samsung laptop computer, four cell phones, a .38 caliber revolver, six rounds of ammunition, and a pellet gun to the U.S. Government.
Hayes told Robert Johnson he was using someone else’s daughters “as a business,” leaving a trail of “destruction in your wake.” Hayes noted that Johnson also had young daughters and added, “You’d be horrified if someone did this to your kids.”
“The defendant and his wife…destroyed the innocence of teenage girls for their own unjust enrichment,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “We will take strong and decisive action whenever necessary to protect our children and punish those who engage in this egregious trafficking of children.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Foster sought the 9-year sentence Johnson received while his attorney, Robert Rexrode, asked for a 6-year term. Rexrode noted this was his first offense.
Rexrode wrote in court documents that Johnson was not involved in kidnapping the girls and never forced them to take drugs. Inglewood Police said one of the girls was kidnapped in March 2015.
