GEORGIA
Former prison guard Edgar Daniel Johnson, 51, admitted on Monday to sexually assaulting three female inmates at the Emanuel Women’s Facility in Swainsboro, Georgia, according to officials.
Johnson also admitted that he coerced the women to help him cover up the assaults.
He also plead guilty to making a bomb threat at Elba Island on a separate occasion, in May 2017.
Johnson plead guilty to three counts of willfully depriving the inmates of their Eighth Amendment rights under color of law, three counts of obstruction for coercing the women to cover up the assaults, and one count of maliciously conveying false information about explosive materials.
“No one is above the law, and the criminal actions of this former prison guard compel a strong rebuke. Anyone who chooses to prey on others under color of official right should expect federal prosecution and jail,” said U.S. Attorney R. Brian Tanner.
The Associated Press reported that “more than a dozen women claimed that Johnson victimized them at Emanuel Women’s Facility in Swainsboro. One of them said that 48-year-old Johnson was a pastor who read passages from the Bible.”
During the plea hearing, Johnson admitted that, between November 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013, while he was working as a Georgia Department of Corrections prison guard at the Emanuel Women’s Facility, he engaged in non-consensual vaginal intercourse on more than one occasion with female inmates S.A., M.A., and M.P. Johnson.
Also he admitted that each act of intercourse was against the inmate’s will and violated the inmate’s right under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, which includes the right to be free from unwanted sexual assaults.
Johnson further admitted that he coerced each of the inmates to cover up the assaults after the fact to help him avoid detection by investigators, according to officials.
Johnson also admitted that on May 3, 2017, he used a cellular telephone to call Southside Fire Department in Chatham County, Georgia and falsely report a bomb threat at Elba Island, officials said.
“This defendant abused his legal authority to prey on vulnerable women who had been entrusted to his care. His actions undermine the rule of law and the well-being of our communities,” said John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division.