March 5, 2026, 11:37 p.m. ET
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A Florida man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to life in prison for molesting two children, prosecutors said.
Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, was found guilty in February of five criminal charges, including molesting a child under 12 and another under 16; lewd and lascivious exhibition; and electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in Florida. He was sentenced on Thursday, March 5.
Court records obtained by USA TODAY showed that Johnson was arrested in July 2025 after the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office received a report that “two juveniles had fallen victim to lewd and lascivious acts over a many-month span.”
When deputies responded to a residence in Brooksville, Florida, a city about 50 miles north of Tampa, Florida, they were informed by one of the victims’ mothers that the two children admitted that they were both “inappropriately touched by Johnson,” according to court records and prosecutors. One of the victims told investigators that the abuse began around April 2024, when the victim was 11 years old.
Further investigation revealed that Johnson had attempted to silence one of his victims by claiming he was being “awarded” $10 million from the Trump administration as restitution for Jan. 6 defendants, and that he would leave a portion of the money with the victim in his will, according to court records.
“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” court records state.
Prosecutors said Johnson also would buy one of the victims’ various gifts and food in an attempt to keep the victim from reporting him to authorities. The victim told investigators that Johnson “once said to never tell anyone, due to the fact that he would get into trouble,” according to prosecutors.
Investigators also found numerous sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of the victims on Discord, an instant messaging and social platform, prosecutors said.
“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Johnson previously sentenced for participating in US Capitol riot
In August 2024, Johnson was sentenced to one year in prison for his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack, court records showed. He had pleaded guilty in April 2024 to entering and remaining in a restricted building or ground, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or ground, among other charges.
After attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, federal prosecutors said Johnson marched to the Capitol and used a bullhorn, saying: “We have a (expletive) job to finish.” He entered the building by climbing over broken glass through an office window that had been smashed out, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Johnson then encouraged other rioters to join him in the office and proceeded to engage in disorderly and disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds for over four hours. Video of the incident showed Johnson inside the building yelling: “We haven’t accomplished (expletive). We need to go through that (expletive) door. We’re not done yet,” court records state.
Johnson also repeatedly cursed and yelled at police officers after they deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants to disperse the riot, according to court records. Following the incident, prosecutors said Johnson “prolifically spread false information” about the Jan. 6 attack on social media and called for a second riot more than a year after his arrest.
Prosecutors said Johnson, who has a long criminal history, did not show remorse over his participation in the riot and also violated his conditions of release on at least 10 separate occasions.
Latest Capitol rioter to be charged for new crimes
Johnson is among a string of Capitol rioters who have committed new crimes after receiving a pardon from Trump in 2025. The president issued pardons for more than 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6 attack on his first day back in office, writing in his proclamation that the pardons would begin “a process of national reconciliation.”
The proclamation granted commutation of sentences for more than a dozen people and a “full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
A December 2025 analysis from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit watchdog organization, found that at least 33 Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by Trump have been rearrested, charged, or sentenced for other crimes since the attack.
Several cases have made national headlines. In October 2025, Christopher Moynihan, 34, was charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat. He was accused of sending threatening text messages about a scheduled public appearance by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC, I cannot allow this terrorist to live. … Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated. … I will kill him for the future,” the text messages read, according to court records.
Moynihan was among the first rioters to enter the Capitol grounds and watched rioters fight with police at the rotunda door, according to federal prosecutors.
In another case, Zachary Jordan Alam, 33, was arrested in May 2025 after allegedly breaking into a Virginia home and stealing personal items, local television station WUSA9 reported. According to the television station, Alam was previously serving an eight-year prison sentence for assaulting police officers and smashing the speakers’ lobby window.
Before being pardoned by Trump, WUSA9 said Alam was unapologetic about his actions during the Jan. 6 attack. “Not only are we expecting a pardon, we are demanding a pardon,” Alam told the television station.
Contributing: Fernando Cervantes Jr., BrieAnna J. Frank, and Terry Collins, USA TODAY
