He raped a Bradenton 13-year-old in 1998, cops say. DNA evidence finally caught up to him

Gregory Johnson Jr. was 22 years old in 1998 when he raped a 13-year-old girl in Bradenton, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

The now 43-year-old was found living in Georgia in September, arrested and extradited back to Manatee County where he was booked into jail on Feb. 5 on a charge of sexually assaulting a child. He is being held on a $150,000 bond.

According to court documents, in May of 1998, the child’s parents went away for the night and hired a babysitter to watch their daughter. The babysitter invited friends to the home, including Johnson.

Many of the friends left for Ybor City, but Johnson stayed behind, according to court records.

Johnson entered the child’s bedroom and raped her, deputies say.

Just as the rape was ending, the other guests returned home to witness the victim crying, telling deputies at the time that Johnson, “appeared nervous and startled as he left the residence very quickly.”

The victim was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital and a sexual assault examination was completed.

Court documents do not indicate anything further except in the summer of 2015 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement requested the sexual assault kit for DNA examination.

The test results were completed in April 2016, but did not get forwarded back to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office until September of last year. The results of the DNA testing linked Johnson to the crime, deputies say.

A DNA search warrant was obtained on Sept. 18 and served on Johnson where he was living in Houston County, Ga. Johnson submitted to the test and agreed to be interviewed.

Johnson told detectives during the interview that he has friends that lived in the Bradenton neighborhood where the crime occurred, but denied knowing the victim, according to court documents. The location of the crime was not made available in the documents.

When Johnson was told that his DNA was found on the victim, Johnson again denied knowing the victim.

However, he told deputeis “there is a possibility he could have,” had sex with the victim. He said he was a heavy drinker in 1998 and doesn’t remember it, according to the sheriff’s office.

Johnson’s DNA collected with the search warrant was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Oct. 2 and on Jan. 10, detectives confirmed the latest matches, court documents state.

An arrest warrant was obtained Jan. 22 and Johnson was extradited back to Manatee County on Feb. 5 to face a felony sexual assault of a child charge.