How Could You? Hall of Shame-Randy August Johnson

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Dallas Center, Iowa, former pastor and foster parent Randy August Johnson “52, is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl from 2013 to 2014 while she was 12 and 13 years old, according to court records.”

“Most of the abuse reportedly occurred at his Dallas Center home, next door to Dallas Center Church of the Brethren, where Johnson formerly was the pastor. His next court date is Feb. 6.

Tim Button-Harrison, district executive for the Northern Plains District Church of the Brethren, which oversees the Dallas Center church, declined to say when or how Johnson’s employment at the church ceased.

On Thursday morning, Johnson was still listed as the church’s pastor on a Church of the Brethren website. The Dallas Center congregation has about 30 to 50 members, Button-Harrison said. He declined to comment further.

The charges against Johnson come as a state senator has called for government oversight hearings of two severe abuse cases involving home-schooled children who were adopted out of state foster care.

State Sen. Matt McCoy, D-West Des Moines, has said he wants to examine how Iowa’s Department of Human Services screens parents for fostering and adoption, as well as how it treats mandatory reports of child abuse.

Amy Lorentzen McCoy, a spokeswoman for Human Services, confirmed that Johnson was a licensed foster parent from October 2004 to July 2007. McCoy said she couldn’t comment on whether Johnson had adopted any children out of foster care, noting adoption records are confidential under state law.

“Despite background checks, home studies and ongoing services, there are times that foster and adoptive parents also abuse children,” Lorentzen McCoy said in a statement. “We work hard to vet families to provide the safest home possible for all children. Like biological families, foster and adoptive families can have changes over time in family dynamics or behaviors — such as a parent developing mental illness or other life stressors — that put children at risk or lead to abuse.”

Former Iowa pastor, foster parent charged with child molestation[Des Moines Register 1/26/17 by Lee Rood]

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