Last night Kentucky Republican state Rep. Dan Johnson drove onto a bridge in Louisville, Kentucky, shot himself inside his car, and died. 24 hours earlier, he had been publicly accused of molesting a teenager in 2013.
In 2013, then 17-year-old Maranda Richmond had to ward off a drunk evangelical pastor – Dan Johnson – who kissed her and put his hands underneath her clothes inside a church on New Years Day. Three months later she reported the incident to police, and the Louisville Metro Police Department started but then closed an investigation without charging Johnson.
In January of this year pastor Johnson became a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 49th district, but it wasn't until earlier this week that the molestation case was made public with a lengthy report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
According to CNN:
The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting got its hands on police documents on the alleged sexual assault, and interviewed Richmond, leading to its story on how Johnson allegedly forced himself on her when she was a teenager.
On Tuesday, a day after the center published its report, Johnson denied the allegations, saying Richmond was motivated by his political opponents.
"This allegation concerning this young girl absolutely has no merit," he said. "As a matter of fact, some of this I heard yesterday for the first time as I read the story."
…Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page Wednesday evening, saying the accusations "are false" and 'only God knows the truth." The post appears to have been deleted.
