Crosby: Therapy, Church Ministry Help Sex Offender Regain Foothold
By Denise Crosby
TJ Johnson is not looking for understanding from you or me. He’s not looking for sympathy either. And he’s certainly not seeking forgiveness, even from his victims, whose hurt he caused “is irreparable.” What the Oswego man wants more than anything is a chance at redemption, in this life and the next. And he wants to help other sinners come to terms with their offenses — just as he has: With the help of intense prison therapy; along with people on the outside who have embraced both his frailties and strengths. Johnson is a convicted felon, found guilty in 2000 of performing sexual acts on young men at his Aurora church, who were doing community service contracted with the DuPage County Probation Department. At the time, his arrest was plenty screamy. Not only had he violated the justice system through what he describes as “a bogus ministry,” he’d also performed thousands of wedding services there. Adding to the outrage of this case was the fact he was a bus driver with the Oswego School District. Reading past stories about Johnson would make most people want to lock him up and throw away the key. Myself included. But the more I spoke with the 57-year-old man — who served almost a decade in prison and was released two years ago this month — the more I saw not just a story about redemption, but also rehabilitation. The latter is a delicate word to use when it comes to sex offenders. Even Johnson will be the first to insist “my sickness cannot be cured — only controlled.” And, he adds, “Nobody can do it alone.” ***** More than four decades later, Johnson still becomes emotional as he describes his early years. From age 6 on, he says, his stepfather, a migrant worker, not only sexually molested him, but pimped him out to other camp workers, In fifth grade Johnson says he finally built up the courage to go to a trusted teacher. “There’s something I need to tell you,” he began, then described the abuse at his stepdad’s hands. Her response cut short his lone cry for help: “Those things,” she replied, “just don’t happen in Long Grove.” Still, Johnson refuses to place blame on his childhood. “What I did was my choice,” he says of the teens he molested in the late 1990s. And in fact, he became more disgusted with himself because he so willingly inflicted the pain he came to know as a child on others. Yet, understanding the “deep depraved anger” he felt helped him connect the dots between being abused and becoming the abuser. “I was bent on getting even,” he said, and after his stepfather died when Johnson was 19, “I couldn’t hurt him, so I had to hurt others.” Johnson gradually evolved into “an angry controlling man. The more out-of-control his life became, the more vengeful he turned. And like a drug addiction, “my distortions continued to grow.” Johnson admits he felt relief upon his arrest by the Kane County Sheriff’s Department (he was also found guilty in Kendall County). And he credits many years of “intensive 24/7 therapy” in prison as the path to his redemption. Statistics indicate only 3 percent of sex offenders who go through such programs repeat their offenses. And the more support they receive once out of prison, the better their chances are of not offending again. Johnson also credits that outside support from strangers with helping him develop a deep Christian faith. His emotional and spiritual bond with the Seventh-day Adventist Church grew strong, and within a couple days of his release from prison, he began attending services at the Naperville church. There, the congregation not only welcomed him, they melded their own prison ministry with the one Johnson started after he returned to the Fox Valley. And he now serves as coordinator of the church’s Joel 3:3 Prison Ministries and Book Depository. Acknowledging Johnson’s crimes with the understanding they must always be vigilant, Elder Dan Forde says church members, nevertheless, embrace the “awesome person” Johnson now is. “He has been nothing but a pleasure to work with,” says Forde. “He is a changed man ... an absolutely genuine Christian man.” ***** TJ Johnson did not come to me asking for a story about his life. We made contact in November following a column seeking the names of non-profit groups which could use community donations over the holidays. His request was modest: stamps to help with postage for the sometimes hundreds of letters he sends monthly to those in prison. He began the ministry after he was released from Big Muddy River Correctional Center. And he knew just how much it meant to have support from those on the outside. While his ministry concentrates on the offenders, Johnson can’t help but think about his victims. “I want their forgiveness but can’t ask for it,” he says, because doing so would “force them to remember the pain. It must come from them and only if it would somehow help them heal.” Johnson, who does odd jobs for income but is looking for full-time work, is a firm believer that, despite his sins, the Holy Spirit dwells within him. “I can only deal with the shame by not internalizing it,” he adds. Agreeing to go so public, he also understands, could result in a destructive, even violent, backlash. But that’s OK because those who respond with such anger, he believes, have their own issues. “If my story helps one person get help,” Johnson adds, “then something good has come from it.” Contact: dcrosby@stmedianetwork.com
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