Sunday, June 22, 2014

DOJ: Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Violent Kidnapping of Gay Man

Be careful out there, guys.

From a news release:

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas, and the FBI Dallas Division announced that Brice Johnson, 19, of Springtown, Texas, pleaded guilty today in federal court to kidnapping a young gay man after inviting the victim to his home and brutally assaulting him.
Johnson admitted in plea documents that in the early morning hours of Sept. 2, 2013, he connected with the adult male victim, identified as A.K., through the cell phone application for MeetMe.com. A.K.’s MeetMe.com page indicated he was a gay man, while Johnson’s web page indicated he was not gay. During their chat communications, Johnson said that he was interested in engaging in sexual activity with A.K. He invited A.K. to his home, gave A.K. his cell phone number and address, and they exchanged text messages planning their sexual encounter. Just a few minutes after A.K. arrived at the house, Johnson severely beat him and bound A.K.’s wrists with an electrical cord. Johnson then locked the victim into the trunk of his own car and drove the car to a family friend’s house. Individuals at the home repeatedly warned Johnson that they would call the police if he didn’t take A.K. to the hospital. Johnson eventually transported A.K. to an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) station in Springtown. 
A.K. suffered multiple skull and facial fractures from the beating, casuing him to be hospitalized for ten days at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. Johnson admitted that he saved A.K.’s cell phone number using a gay slur as a contact name. 
During the plea hearing, Johnson admitted that he held and confined the victim against his will in order to conceal the violent assault and to remove A.K’s severely injured body from the home where Johnson was a long-term houseguest.
Sentencing has been set for Nov. 17, 2014. Johnson faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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