Buyer’s Justice: Billionaire Heir Serves 3-Months In Prison After Raping Child

In March 2011, S. Curtis “Curt” Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, was charged with repeated sexually assault of his 12-year-old step daughter. Although he faced 40 years in prison for his crime, he only served 3 months.

Johnson’s spokesperson spoke anonymously to Forbes, saying: “If Curt was Curt Johnson from some other state, it could have turned out totally differently. If Curt Johnson was black, it could have been really different.”

She says that despite this, Johnson is truly repentant.

Johnson’s legal issues began when he told his therapist about the sexual abuse. The therapist was then legally obligated to report Johnson to the police. By March, he had been charged with repeated sexual assault and three counts of incest by a stepparent. In April, Curt pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors then spent time attempting to compel testimony from the therapist that Johnson admitted his crimes to. Unfortunately, they had the wrong therapist. Circuit court judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz said, “The state, in my humble opinion, didn’t do their homework in getting the name of the therapist in Arizona. They thought they had the name, they asked for material witness, and it turned out that that was not the person who actually saw [Johnson].”

Another issue in the case was that the alleged victim and the victim’s mother, who was married to Johnson at the time, were not cooperative. Tracie Stier-Johnson married Johnson in 2001 and brought her daughter from a previous partner into the marriage. Johnson and his wife divorced in 2016, two years after Johnson’s release from prison.

The 12-year old girl’s father initially cooperated with the proceedings. But soon he was “nowhere to be found,” according to Gasiorkiewicz.

Eventually, Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct.

“I think that had that he strongly continued to pursue his defense, the state couldn’t have proven anything,” Gasiorkiewicz says. “That’s one of the reasons why I granted the amended information to be filed. They were in a bad, bad position.”

Gasiorkiewicz says he still thinks he made the right decision in not giving Johnson the maximum sentence because the goal should be for people to admit that they did something wrong and work to rehabilitate themselves.

Attorney Olevia Boykin, who works for criminal justice nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, said: “It’s not surprising that he ended up with so little time. The most surprising thing in this case is that the billionaire was even charged at all.”

Johnson’s spokesperson said that Johnson’s time in prison opened his eyes to “the other circumstances that other people live with.” He is now planning to spend about $900,000 to open a halfway house for inmates.

Johnson’s spokesperson said he now spends half of every month with his long-term partner in Miami and the other half of the month in Charlotte so he can be close to the two daughters he had with Stier-Johnson. She says that Johnson also has a close relationship with his stepdaughter, who he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing.

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