A South Carolina circuit court judge sentenced the heir of the “SC Johnson” company, known by the tag phrase “A family company”, to four months in prison for the sexual molestation of his step-daughter back in 2011 when she was twelve years old. The defendant, Samuel Curtis Johnson III, had admitted to molesting his daughter.
Johnson could have been charged with a felony charge of sexual battery of a minor. He had fondled her private parts between 15 and 20 times. The issue came to light after the victim feared for her younger sister’s safety and confessed the abuse to her mother. Johnson admitted to his wife that the allegations were true.
The presiding judge in the case accepted a guilty plea from Johnson in exchange for the charges being reduced to fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct which are misdemeanors. The sentence is relatively light compared to what he would have received had the judge gone with a felony charge. Critics are quick to claim that his billionaire status swayed the judge and that is true to some extent.
The judge cited the fact that in his own case history, he has not issued stiff sentences to people who had no prior record and were contributing members of society. While critics charge that Johnson’s billionaire status swayed the judge, it likely would have been the same outcome if he was a highly compensated white collar worker. What is a glaring omission is that Johnson was not required to seek rehabilitative therapy for sexual deviancy which treatment is highly effective with a 92% success rate.