Kennewick truck driver accused of beating, sexually abusing children for years
A 47-year-old man is charged with terrorizing a woman and five children by beating some and sexually assaulting others dating back at least 10 years.
Investigators believe Bradley Johnson, a truck driver from Kennewick, carried out a pattern of sexual abuse, beatings and threats starting in 2013 and lasting until he was arrested on Jan. 12.
Seven people, referred to as Victims A through G in court documents, were the targets of his abuse, claim Benton County prosecutors. He is facing charges in connection with six of them.
Johnson is currently being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. He pleaded innocent this week through an interpreter speaking the language of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
He’s charged with of child molestation, other sexual assaults, witness tampering and four separate counts of assault. His trial is scheduled for March 18.
Kennewick police started investigating the crime after receiving a report from Washington Child Protective Service officials.
“Victim A told law enforcement that Bradley threatened to kill her if she told anyone,” Deputy Prosecutor Holai Holbrook wrote in the probable cause statement. “She believed he would carry out that threat since he has badly beaten (others) and routinely carries a gun.”
Another girl told investigators that no one could disobey him or they would be beaten.
Court documents allege he was previously accused of assault and threatening the children with a gun. After he got out of jail, he threatened them to get them to change their stories, said investigators.
In another incident, he allegedly forced two children and the woman to stand on one foot while he hit them until they told him something he wanted to hear.
“When asked if Johnson directly threatened to assault her, (one victim) said no, but that it was an every day thing, you couldn’t say, ‘No’ to him or he would hit you,” Holbrook said in her affidavit.
In one case, Johnson is accused of beating one of victim so badly that she couldn’t walk for a time.
Johnson’s been ordered to have no contact with any of the victims in the case.
