Wyoming man pleads guilty in 2013 sexual assaults in Kalamazoo County
(CBS DETROIT) - A 30-year-old man has pled guilty in connection to two sexual assaults he committed against two Kalamazoo County women in 2013.
Michael Vincenzo Johnson of Casper, Wyoming, pled guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual assault, Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel announced Thursday.
Officials say the first incident happened on Jan. 19, 2013, in a Western Michigan University dorm room.
The victim was an 18-year-old freshman who was in a state of extreme intoxication and physically helpless, and Johnson was a 20-year-old upperclassman.
The second assault happened at a home on Feb. 15 or 16 in Augusta, Michigan.
Officials say Johnson forced himself on a 16-year-old high school student during this incident.
The Western Michigan University Police Department referred the case to the Kalamazoo Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) project in 2017.
SAKI reopened the case in 2020 and learned about the second victim during the investigation. Authorities interviewed the victim and the defendant. Officials say the victim's sexual assault kit was tested in 2013, but a police report was not generated.
"SAKI investigators learned that Johnson had moved to Wyoming in January 2016 to become a sportswriter for a local newspaper, said the attorney general's office. "The 23-year-old almost immediately began pursuing sexual relationships with female high school students and athletes. Johnson was arrested in Wyoming in April 2016 on charges of accosting minors for immoral purposes, manufacturing child pornography, and providing marijuana to minors."
Johnson served time in a Wyoming prison.
Once paroled, he was arrested on the SAKI charges. In May 2022, he was extradited to Kalamazoo.
"Both victims, who watched the defendant's guilty plea via Zoom, voiced their gratitude for the opportunity to work with the SAKI team and have their cases re-investigated and prosecuted," said the attorney general's office. "The women have acknowledged how detrimental the sexual assaults and lack of prosecution were for them, and they indicated the positive effects of having justice and closure. The result is that they finally feel believed."
His sentencing is scheduled for March 20 at 8:30 a.m.
