Kentucky Lawmaker Accused Of Molestation Commits Suicide

LOUISVILLE, KY — A Kentucky lawmaker and pastor accused of molesting a 17-year-old girl on New Year’s Eve 2012 committed suicide Wednesday, according to reports. State Rep. Dan Johnson shot and killed himself on a bridge in Mount Washington, Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said.

Just before 5 p.m., Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page that read:

“The accusations from NPR are false GOD and only GOD knows the truth, nothing is the way they make it out to be. AMERICA will not survive this type of judge and jury fake news . Conservatives take a stand. I LOVE GOD and I LOVE MY WIFE, who is the best WIFE in the world,My Love Forever ! My Mom and Dad my FAMILY and all five of my kids and Nine grandchildren two in tummies and many more to come each of you or a total gift from GOD stay strong, REBECCA needs YOU . 9-11-2001 NYC/WTC, PTSD 24/7 16 years is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. IT Has Won This Life . BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME. “PLEASE LISTEN CLOSELY, Only Three things I ask of you to do,if you love me is (1)blame no person,Satan is the accuser, so blame the Devil himself. (2) Forgive and Love everyone especially yourself .(3)most importantly LOVE GOD. P.S. I LOVE MY FRIENDS YOU ARE FAMILY ! GOD LOVES ALL PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT !”

Johnson was the pastor at Heart of Fire Church, where the 17-year-old girl who accused him of had been staying in the living area, according to court documents obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, which published a searing exposé about Johnson's rise from the pulpit to politics. The now 21-year-old woman, who was reportedly close with Johnson's wife and daughters and attended the Heart of Fire Church, said Johnson had been drinking on New Year’s Eve 2012 when he approached her, kissed her and fondled her under her clothes.

Johnson was never criminally charged and denied the allegations against him at a news conference at his church Tuesday,WDRB-TV reported. He admitted at the news conference that he had sent the then 17-year-old girl a Facebook message the day after the alleged molestation, but said he didn't recall what had happened because he had been "drugged" at a local bar. When reporters asked if he had filed a police report, he said he hadn't because he didn't want to make an allegation against the bar.

Both Republicans and Democrats had called on Johnson to resign, something he said Tuesday he didn't plan to do. He said charges against him were politically motivated by the young woman, who he said supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and was an abortion-rights advocate, the Courier-Journal reported.

"This allegation concerning this lady, this young girl, absolutely has no merit, these are unfounded accusations, totally," he said. "This is an assault on all real people, there's no perfect people and you get into office and all of sudden political hacks come against you and start accusing you after you're in office."

However, Mac Brown, the state Republican Party chairman, said in a statement the allegations against Johnson were "extensively sourced," and said Republicans "once again find ourselves in a position where we must call for him to resign, this time, from the Kentucky General Assembly."

Last year, officials the state Republican Party asked him to quit the race for the statehouse after he posted photos on his Facebook page that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. He remained in the race, but removed the photos.

Kentucky Democratic Party Executive Director Mary Nishimuta also called for Johnson's resignation Monday.

"This is indicative of a corrupt culture in Frankfort that the Republican Party continues to accept," she said. "Kentucky’s families deserve better.”

Kentucky House of Representatives Speaker Pro Tempore David Osborne and other House Republican leaders joined in the call for Johnson's resignation, calling the allegations against him"shocking." In a statement, they said "victim’s statements, made on the record in her own name, are compelling and deeply troubling."

The charismatic evangelical preacher who anointed himself “The Pope” was known for hate speech against African-Americans and Muslims and had made racist Facebook posts in the past, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

The Tea Party Republican, elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2016, is believed to have coined the “make America great again” phrase before President Donald Trump adopted the slogan as his own.

He was staunch believer in gun rights and appeared carried an AK-47 to an interview with Guns.com in 2014. In it, he said he was following the teachings of Jesus, who he said “taught us to be armed.”

“The real reason for our Second Amendment rights is that we have a gun to keep a mean-spirited government off of us,” he said in the interview. “If they go crazy, we gotta have something to be crazier with.”

Introduced as “Bishop” Dan Johnson, he gave the invocation took part in a march and rally organized by the the anti-Muslim group Freedom Watch in Washington, D.C., in 2013. He was a first responder in New York City during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and said he had been permanently changed by it.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin tweeted a statement Wednesday night: "Saddened to hear of tonight’s death of KY Representative Dan Johnson ... My heart breaks for his family tonight...These are heavy days in Frankfort and in America ... May God indeed shed His grace on us all ...We sure need it ..."

Photo: With friends and family standing behind him, Kentucky State Rep., Republican Dan Johnson addresses the public from his church on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, regarding allegations that he sexually abused a teenager after a New Year's party in 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Johnson says a woman's claim that he sexually assaulted her in 2013 has no merit and he will not resign. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)