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By Bill Stevenson
Gazette Editor 

Moscow sex offender charged for sexting teen

 

Sora Shimazaki I Pexels

COLFAX - A registered sex offender faces felony charges for sending sexual text messages to a Moscow teenager while staying in LaCrosse.

Austin T. Johnson, 23, of Moscow, Idaho, is charged with two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in Whitman County Superior Court on Feb. 17.

In the late summer of 2020, a woman contacted the Moscow police about finding sexual texts on her daughter's phone. The messages were allegedly between Johnson and a teenage girl in Moscow, Idaho discussing sex, according to court records.

A search warrant revealed Johnson appeared to have taken part while staying in LaCrosse, which is why the charges are filed in Whitman County.

Johnson is a registered sex offender in Idaho for a 2013 juvenile conviction for lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16 years old, according to the Moscow police. When he turned 20 he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender. In 2017 he was arrested for two counts of lewd conduct with a 16-year-old girl by the Clearwater County Sheriff's Office in Idaho.

Author Bio

Bill Stevenson, Former Managing Editor

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Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.

 

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