Youth pastor accused of trafficking teenage girls and living off his earnings – NBC 6 South Florida

A youth pastor and counselor appeared in bond court accused of subsisting on the earnings of a teenager who worked as a prostitute.

Stephen Johnson, 40, met the alleged victim on a social media app when she was 12 and was selling nude content online, according to the complaint affidavit.

Investigators said the girl met someone on the app who she thought was a woman who offered to help her sell more nude content, but the woman was actually Johnson.

According to the complaint, the actions continued until the alleged victim turned 17 and flew to Birmingham, Alabama; where the suspect allegedly placed her in escort ads and directed her to participate in commercial sex acts in exchange for money.

“He trafficked a 17-year-old minor in another state, your honor,” prosecutors said in court.

When the teen was accepted to college, the two moved to South Florida and Johnson continued to force her into prostitution, the affidavit alleges.

Prosecutors say the incident occurred in multiple states.

“Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, and now Florida and Washington DC,” prosecutors said.

In bond court, prosecutors said Johnson volunteered as a youth pastor at a church and counseled children.

“For the past 12 years, he has been volunteering as a youth pastor at a church in Birmingham, Alabama, for youth ages 5 to 18,” prosecutors said.

Victor Williams of Quest 2 Freedom, a nonprofit that helps victims of human trafficking, says it’s something he sees all the time.

“A lot of people operating in these types of places and areas full of children turn out to be predators,” Williams said.

Williams says traffickers use different tactics to gain the victim’s trust before exploiting them.

“Pretending to be someone they are not in order to gain the trust of these kids to get accurate information about their whereabouts and convince them to meet them in person,” Williams said.

In court, Johnson was ordered to stay away from children and stay offline.