Friday, February 18, 2000
Race driver sentenced to 18 months
Man convicted of corrupting teen-aged girls
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Race car driver Jerry Johns was sentenced to 18 months in jail Thursday for corrupting teen-aged girls with liquor and X-rated movies.
The 55-year-old Harveysburg man, who runs in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series at Kil-Kare Speedway in Xenia, was found guilty this week of a dozen charges of disseminating material harmful to a juvenile and furnishing alcohol to minors in 1998.
Standing silent in Warren County Court on Thursday, Mr. Johns endured a tongue-lashing from the judge before hearing that he would spend the maximum time in jail.
Judge James Heath said he was sickened by Mr. Johns' actions.
He said Mr. Johns robbed young girls of their innocence.
“The fact of the matter is you took something away from a lot of people, and you can't give it back,” Judge Heath said after reading excerpts from letters by two of the victims' mothers.
One of the mothers said she sat up nights trying to convince her sobbing daughter that the girl was a victim and not at fault.
“The only thing I can take away from you is your freedom,” Judge Heath said.
Mr. Johns came under investigation in February 1999, when a neighbor com plained to Warren County Children Services that Mr. Johns' apartment, above a gas station he owned on Ohio 73, had become a hangout for young girls.
The caller also alleged Mr. Johns was taking nude photographs of some of the girls.
Thirteen girls, some as young as 14, told sheriff's detectives that Mr. Johns supplied them with alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana during their visits.
Some said he took pictures of them in provocative poses. Others told police Mr. Johns showed them X-rated videos.
When police served a search warrant on Mr. Johns' apartment last year, they confiscated adult magazines, X-rated movies, liquor and six Polaroid pictures depicting sexual acts.
“They were local girls. Most of them met him through friends of the family or other girls who went there,” Assistant Prosecutor Ken Ewing said.
Judge Heath also placed Mr. Johns on probation for three years, banned him from having contact with anyone under 18 years old and ordered him to pay $3,000 in fines.
The hefty jail sentence did not close the case.
Mr. Johns still faces a Feb. 24 trial in Warren County Juvenile Court on a dozen misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor involving the same investigation.
Prosecutors said they will decide today whether to pursue those charges in light of the outcome of the county court case.
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