Ex-church mentor gets life for posing as girl online to molest teenage boys

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Antonie Johnson, 29, a former church mentor and camp counselor, posed as 14 year-old girl named “Kristen”, who never existed, on Myspace. Johnson used his fake Myspace account to lure underage boys into a “twisted game of sexual abuse.” The Gwinnett Daily Post reports that Johnson  has been sentenced life in prison for molesting two boys and trying to lure a third.

LAWRENCEVILLE — The topic du jour Wednesday in the child molestation trial of a former Dacula church mentor was a 14-year-old Texan named “Kristen.” And she never even existed.

Kristen was an online invention of 29-year-old Antoine Johnson, a former intern and summer camp organizer at Hebron Baptist Church, who posed as the girl on MySpace to lure underage boys, most of them loners and outcasts, into a twisted game of sexual abuse.

Calling the scheme “absolutely diabolical,” Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Timothy Hamil meted out a life sentence to Johnson for molesting two boys (ages 13 and 14) and attempting to lure a third (age 15) in 2008. Posing as Kristen on MySpace, in emails and even phone calls, Johnson emptily promised the boys sexual favors with her if they had sex with him, as a means to show they were loyal and could keep a secret.

So convincing was the ploy, one teen victim spoke of Kristen as if she were a codefendant, as did Johnson.

Johnson testified that he created the Kristen persona — using a photo he stole from a real account in Texas — to help a friend’s younger brother with self-confidence issues. Things, he claimed, spun out of control when one of the victims stumbled on the Kristen profile and started making sexual advances.

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