BOISE -- A 62-year-old teacher in the Boise School District is the latest person caught up in a local law enforcement sting targeting child predators.
Michael Johnson was arrested Thursday afternoon on a felony charge of attempted lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16.
According to the prosecutor, Johnson responded to an online ad offering sex with a 35-year-old woman and her 15-year-old daughter. In reality, the ad had been posted by an officer as part of a multi-day investigation involving the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement.
Ten men total had been arrested in the sting the weekend before Johnson's arrest, using similar tactics.
At Johnson's Friday arraignment, the prosecutor said it was clear the suspect realized the "girl" was underage.
"The defendant was told multiple times the daughter was 15, and the defendant spoke multiple times about his intent to have sexual contact with that 15-year-old," the prosecutor said.
Johnson was arrested after he showed up at the agreed-upon rendezvous spot. The prosecutor told Judge Michael Oths he admitted to officers that he had intended on having sex with the girl in the ad, and that he realized she was 15.
Johnson, who has no prior criminal record, told Oths he worked as a physical education teacher at Jefferson and Longfellow elementary schools and has lived in Boise for the past 14 years.
Although the prosecutor requested a $350,000 bond, Oths ultimately set the bond at $25,000, which Johnson posted Sunday. The judge ordered that he have no access to the Internet on his personal devices and no unsupervised contact with minors while the case was going on.
KTVB was not immediately able to reach the Boise School District for comment or to confirm whether Johnson was still employed at the schools. District offices are currently closed for the spring break holiday.
Johnson remains listed on a staff directory at Jefferson Elementary, but is absent from Longfellow Elementary's directory. He is due back in court April 4 for a preliminary hearing.
Craigslist - the site on which investigators posted most of the ads during the sting - announced Friday that it would be doing away with its personals section in an attempt to stem sex trafficking on the site. The decision came in response to the U.S. Senate's passing of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which would allow websites to be held liable for third-party prostitution or sex trafficking conducted via their services.
