By james art BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – A Birmingham youth pastor faces up to five years in prison on charges of trafficking a minor and profiting from her earnings over several years, including while he was in Birmingham.
According to a report by WSVNFOX affiliate in Florida, Steven Johnson, a pastor and counselor from Alabama, allegedly profited from the earnings of a teenage girl he brought to Florida.
Investigators say Johnson first contacted the victim online when she was just 12 years old. Authorities say the victim sold explicit content online until she was 17, with Johnson allegedly moving her to Florida and taking 40 percent of her earnings.
Police also say Johnson is suspected of additional sex crimes across the state, although Birmingham police said he is not currently under investigation locally.
Carolyn Potter, CEO of Birmingham-based advocacy group WellHouse, which focuses on victims of sex trafficking, shared an insight into the challenges victims face when speaking out against their abusers.
“These young people tend to have already been victimized in their younger childhood, and that makes them very vulnerable to someone who is very good at getting them to trust them,” Potter said. “We live here in Alabama in the Bible Belt. We still find it very, very hard to believe that a pastor of all people would do this to a child, and yet it still happens.
Court documents reveal that Johnson is prohibited from having contact with minors and is prohibited from using any devices with internet access.
The church where Johnson served as a youth pastor has not been identified, but prosecutors say he worked with children ages five to 18 for 12 years.
Johnson is being held on $500,000 bail in Broward County, Florida.
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