NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans schoolteacher was sentenced Wednesday to 33 years in federal prison for trafficking and coercing a 16-year-old runaway into commercial sex acts, officials stated.
Aaron Terod Johnson, 38, also was sentenced to lifetime supervised release and ordered to register as a sex offender, according to U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk imposed the sentence.
A federal jury convicted Johnson on Dec. 10, 2025, of sex trafficking of a minor and coercing and enticing a minor to engage in prostitution.
Trial evidence showed Johnson learned through social media in February 2024 that the 16-year-old girl had run away. He saved a screenshot of her social media page on his cellphone.
After the girl was reported missing again in March 2024, Johnson contacted her and learned she was stranded in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Johnson drove from New Orleans to Vicksburg on March 14, 2024, picked up the girl and her friend about 1:30 a.m. and returned to New Orleans using backroads, prosecutors said.
During the trip, Johnson told the teenager he would not hurt her because he was a teacher and she was the same age as his students. He also offered her alcohol and marijuana.
The girl and her friend believed Johnson was taking them to an acquaintance’s home. Instead, he drove them to his apartment, where he paid the girl $200 for sex.
Johnson later demanded sex again without payment and threatened to throw her out if she refused. When she rejected him, Johnson forced the teenager and her friend to stand outside in the rain, according to trial evidence.
Over the next two weeks, Johnson continued contacting the girl after she blocked his phone number. On one occasion, he went to a home where she was staying and paid her $100 for sex.
Johnson later offered to buy the hungry teenager seafood. After arriving at a restaurant, he asked what she would do in exchange for food, prosecutors said.
Trial evidence also showed Johnson attempted to pay another underage girl for sex in March and April 2024. He continued pursuing her after she disclosed in a text message that she was 15.
Quick facts
- Defendant: Aaron Terod Johnson, 38
- Residence: New Orleans
- Occupation: Former schoolteacher
- Sentence: 33 years in federal prison
- Supervised release: Lifetime
- Additional requirement: Sex-offender registration
- Victim’s age: 16
- Conviction date: Dec. 10, 2025
- Sentencing judge: U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk
- Charges: Sex trafficking of a minor and coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution
- Maximum exposure: The convictions carried severe federal penalties, including the possibility of life imprisonment