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	Testimony May Begin Today in Sexual Abuse Case Rochester Democrat and Chronicle January 28, 2008 http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/NEWS01/801280331/1002/NEWS Testimony is expected to begin today in the trial of a Rochester School District sentry charged with sexually assaulting 10 boys, including some students. Andre T. Johnson, 35, faces felony and misdemeanor charges alleging that he sexually abused, sodomized or endangered the boys, who were 10 to 16, from May 1, 1999, through Aug. 31, 2006. If convicted, Johnson faces up to 50 years in prison. As jury selection began Thursday in his trial in state Supreme Court, Johnson rejected an offer to plead guilty and receive a 25-year prison term. Six jurors have been chosen and jury selection could conclude this morning. Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to offer their opening statements this afternoon, followed by the first witnesses. Johnson has worked since 2000 at Wilson Magnet High School Foundation Academy. Johnson, who was acquitted in 2001 of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy a year earlier, was arrested in January 2007 after the mother of a 16-year-old boy told police that her son claimed Johnson had sodomized him for six years. Acting at the request of a police investigator, the mother called Johnson on the phone and confronted him. He allegedly admitted the abuse and said there was no excuse, according to a recording of the call played in a pretrial hearing. The arrest caused nine other boys to come forward and claim Johnson had also abused them. In an indictment handed up on Jan. 26, 2007, grand jurors charged Johnson with assaulting 10 boys. The acts allegedly occurred at the school, in the parking lot of another school, in Johnson's home and in parking lots, swimming pools and a church where Johnson was a deacon. Court documents allege that some of the victims were students and others were friends or relatives of the students. The documents said Johnson bought the boys' silence with gifts, including cell phones, money and memberships at the YMCA. Contact: MZEIGLER@DemocratandChronicle.com
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