HARRISBURG, PA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
HARRISBURG, PA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Robert Lee Johnson a/k/a Stone, age 52, of York, Pennsylvania, was indicted by a federal grand jury on sex trafficking charges.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, the indictment alleges that Johnson knowingly recruited and enticed multiple victims in and affecting interstate commerce to engage in commercial sex acts knowing force, threats of force, fraud and coercion would be used to cause multiple of those victims to engage in commercial sex acts from around November 2015 through mid-August 2016, in York County.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Clancy is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
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