PLANTATION, Fla. (WFLA) — A youth pastor and counselor is accused of trafficking a teenage girl and living off her earnings from her job as a prostitute, according to NBC affiliate WTVJ.
Stephen Johnson, 40, of Alabama, reportedly met the girl through social media when she was just 12 years old and selling nude content online.
The child told investigators she met someone online but believed them to be a woman, who had offered to sell her nude content. That “woman” ended up being Johnson, an arrest report obtained by WTVJ revealed.
The trafficking continued until the girl was 17 and flew to Birmingham, Alabama, where Johnson put her on escort ads and told her to engage in commercial sex acts for money, according to WTVJ.
After the girl was accepted into college, the two reportedly moved to South Florida, where Johnson continued to force her into prostitution, the affidavit said.
Prosecutors in court said the crimes occurred across several states including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Alabama, and now, Florida.
“He volunteers as a youth pastor for youth between the age of 5 and 18 years old in Birmingham, Alabama at a church for the past 12 years,” prosecutors said in the court hearing.
According to WTVJ, Johnson was ordered to stay away from children and offline.