THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120568
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Donald G. Johnson was 55 when he allegedly molested one of his step-granddaughters, in his mid-60s when he purportedly took sexual liberties with her younger sister.
Johnson, 81, has been indicted on felony sex charges involving both women, who were children at the time of the assaults. The women live in Texas and are married.
The April grand jury indicted Johnson, of the 500 block of Beacon St., on two charges of aggravated sexual battery and two charges of forcible sodomy. As of Thursday, a trial date had not been set.
Johnson denied the charges during an interview Thursday evening, said, ``It's lies. They're after a dollar.''
``Why did they wait 25 and 30 years before they . . . said anything?'' Johnson said. ``People will do anything for money.''
But one of the alleged victims, Lisa Goodell, 32, said she and her younger sister, Shelly Branch, are driven by a need to confront their abuser and bring him to justice. Both sisters agreed to be identified to help what they called a ``healing'' process.
``The reason I waited, and most likely my sister waited, is none of us were stable enough to do it,'' Goodell said in an interview Thursday. ``I needed to feel secure enough that I have the emotional support that I need.''
``I didn't want to come forward because it's so difficult to deal with,'' Goodell said from her home in Corpus Christi, Texas. ``I have my own family to deal with.'' She has three daughters.
``Nobody wants to have to go through this,'' she said. ``But if we don't do something, then nobody else is going to stand up and do anything either.
``This is the hardest thing we've ever had to do in our lives.''
Goodell, who is married to a Navy anesthesiologist, said money was not a motivating factor in seeking charges against Johnson.
``I don't need money from him,'' Goodell said. ``My husband makes more money than he does.''
Branch, 29, who lives near her sister in Corpus Christi, could not be reached for comment.
Goodell said the abuse began before she was school-aged during visits to her grandmother's home in Portsmouth.
After the assaults, Goodell said, Johnson would give her 50 cents so she and her brother could buy candy at the ballpark concession stand behind her grandparents' home.
``When you grow up in a family where you're on welfare and there are six kids, there's hardly any money,'' Goodell said. She said the abuse ended when she began school.
Goodell, Branch and a third sister had earlier brought similar charges in Chesapeake against their mother's former live-in boyfriend.
The three women testified during a three-day trial last year that a Chesapeake businessman sexually assaulted them from 1976 to 1987 on numerous occasions. Goodell also alleged that the man impregnated her.
Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Wahab found him not guilty of the charges, though he said he believed he had had sex with the sisters.
At the conclusion of the trial, Wahab said: ``The evidence has clearly shown they (the sisters) were accomplices with their willing consent. . . . It is insufficient to establish the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt as the law requires.''
Chesapeake Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Willis, who prosecuted the case, said that because the victims couldn't remember the specific dates and times of the incidents, ``the charges couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.''
The nature of sex crimes against children makes prosecution difficult, Willis said, because ``oftentimes, children don't tell what a friend or a family member has done to them, and that's precisely the reason why children are frequently the victims.''
And when the crime is many years old, the case becomes even harder to prove.
``Most of the time there aren't fingerprints left anywhere,'' Willis said, ``and typically, there are not confessions.''
In addition, if numerous assaults occur over an extended period of time, it becomes difficult for victims to remember exact dates and times of events, he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot file
Lisa Goodell and Shelly Branch say they have pursued the charges
years later to confront the situation as part of a healing process.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIME CHILD MOLESTER ARREST TRIAL
INDICTMENT by CNB