NEW YORK – A registered sex offender in New York City who has nine prior arrests was taken into custody and accused of forcing entry into his 81-year-old Brooklyn neighbor’s apartment and brutally violating the woman, according to reports.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig identified the perpetrator during a Wednesday press conference as 50-year-old Thomas Johnson, Fox News Digital reported.
Essig said that Johnson is accused of a “particularly despicable crime” against the 81-year-old victim that happened at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
Johnson is a registered sex offender, risk level 3, which is the “highest level.” Thus far, he has been charged with second-degree assault on the woman, strangulation and burglary in connection to the crimes. However, Essig said there may be additional charges in the future as the investigation progresses.
According to the N.Y. Daily News, the victim believes Johnson, who is her upstairs neighbor, raped her during the alleged attack, and the results of a rape kit performed on the woman at the hospital are pending.
Sex Offender Registry photos of Thomas Johnson from Aug. 31, 2022. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
“He knows I live here alone. Oh my God, how could he do this?” the unnamed woman told the news outlet. “I’m still spitting up blood. He didn’t say a word. He knocked me down on the ground and strangled me. He jammed his fingers down my throat so I couldn’t scream. I was knocked unconscious. I believe he raped me.”
“He didn’t do it to a stranger,” she added. “He knows me.”
During Wednesday’s press conference Essig said the 81-year-old woman awoke to a noise in her living room. Upon investigating the disruption, she saw her neighbor in her apartment.
Yet he was anything but neighborly. The suspect began to choke and punch the elderly woman until she lost consciousness.
Following the traumatic crime, the victim was transported to a local hospital. In addition to being sexually violated, she suffered a dislocated jaw. Detectives from the Special Victims Division were quickly able to arrest Johnson, Essig noted.
The Chief of Detectives said investigators obtained a search warrant for Johnson’s apartment and his person. They recovered a bloody T-shirt as well as his bloody clothing, Fox reported.
Essig chronicled Johnson’s nine prior arrests. He pleaded guilty and served one year for sexually abusing a five-year-old girl in August 2006. This crime qualified him to become a registered sex offender.
Sex Offender Registry photos of Thomas Johnson from March 14, 2018; Feb. 3, 2016; and July 1, 2014, from left to right. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
Furthermore, Johnson has racked up the following prior offenses:
- Strangulation – August 2021
- Assault – March 2003
- Attempted murder for which he pleaded guilty to assault – June 1995
- Grand larceny – February 1994
- Grand larceny – January 1991
- Grand larceny – March 1991
- Assault September 1991
When discussing the rape allegation of an 81-year-old woman, and the prior sexual abuse of a five-year-old child, Essig said Johnson is accused of “pretty despicable crime against the kid and the woman.”
