Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 15 years for burglary and molesting 13-year-old

CEDAR RAPIDS - A mother told a judge Monday that she hopes her 14-year-old daughter will overcome the trauma of being sexually assaulted by this man who took advantage of her trust and stole her innocence.

The mother, tearing up during a victim impact statement, said her daughter, who has an intellectual disability, still is traumatized after months of therapy and can't talk about what Jeth Johnson, 41, of Cedar Rapids, did to her. Her daughter, she believes, has attempted to 'block it out.”

Her daughter's disability makes it difficult for her to process because Johnson took advantage of her by using 'love” as a way to abuse her, the mother said.

She is 'truly sickened and disgusted by (his) acts,” the mother added.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Jason Besler accepted Johnson's written guilty plea for lascivious acts with a minor. He admitted, in the written plea, to fondling or touching the girl on Jan. 17, 2020, in Marion. She was 13.

Authorities during the investigation recovered videotapes that Johnson made of himself committing the sex acts with the teen, according to the criminal complaint.

Johnson, in one of the videos, tells the girl, 'You know if you tell anyone, I'm going to prison for a long time.”

Johnson also pleaded guilty in writing to third-degree burglary, as a habitual offender, in a different case, and requested to be immediately sentenced on both charges Monday.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter, during sentencing, called Johnson 'abhorrent” for preying upon a child who had an intellectual disability, and called his pedophile behavior 'egregious” because of how he carried out his abuse.

Johnson declined to make a statement at sentencing.

Besler ran the 10 years on the lascivious acts and the 15 years on the burglary concurrently, per the plea agreement, for a total of 15 years in prison. Johnson must serve a three-year mandatory minimum on the burglary charge before being eligible for parole.

The other charge of third-degree sexual abuse was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Johnson, when he committed this crime, had been serving two terms of probation in separate cases, so Besler also revoked those. He sentenced Johnson to five years on each but ran those concurrently to the other sentences.

In the current case, Johnson also must register as a sex offender following his prison terms and serve a special sentence of parole for life.

Besler also placed a no-contact order against Johnson to protect the victim and her four minor siblings because they live in the same household.

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