Bucks County’s longest missing convicted sex offender has been apprehended in Upper Bucks nearly four years after he last checked in with Pennsylvania State Police, as required under the state’s Megan’s Law.
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| Brahin Johnson in 2010 |
Brahin Johnson, 27, was apprehended Wednesday night by Richland Township police after they responded to a report of a domestic dispute and learned he had been wanted on felony Megan’s Law registration violations since 2011, according to Bristol police Sgt. Joe Moors.
In 2006, Johnson, who is considered a high-risk sex offender, pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court to statutory sexual assault, sexual assault and indecent exposure and was sentenced to two to five years in state prison, according to online court records.
He registered as a sex offender with state police in September 2010, but allegedly never updated his information including his home and work address and social media accounts. As a high-risk offender, Johnson is required to do an in-person update with state police every three months for the rest of his life.
Bristol Borough police filed an arrest warrant charging him with failure to comply with registration of sex offender in January 2011, one month after he missed his quarterly meeting with state police. A police investigation allegedly found that Johnson was not living at the Spruce Street address that he told state police was his home.
When Bristol police spoke to the woman living at the home, she said Johnson never lived there and she had no idea why he would tell police he did, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit does not say when state police notified the borough that Johnson may not have provided accurate information.
Johnson was arraigned before Northampton District Judge William Benz Thursday and sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail. It is unclear if he will face any charges related to the domestic incident that police initially responded to Wednesday.
Further information about Johnson’s arrest was not immediately available.
Active arrest warrants have been filed for six other unaccounted for registered sex offenders last known to be living or working in Bucks County who failed to update information, according to authorities. One has been missing nearly as long as Johnson.
Former Bristol Township resident Luis Vasquez, who was convicted of carnal knowledge of a child in Virginia in 2006, last updated his information with state police in 2011. He is considered a low-risk sex offender and required to check in with state police at least once a year.
Vasquez had been convicted in Virginia in 2008 and 2011 of failing to register as a sex offender, according to court records. The second time he was missing five months before the U.S. Marshals apprehended him in Bristol Township, where Vasquez was living, according to court documents.
Between 2012 and 2013, the Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law unit sent two notices for an investigation after Vasquez missed required update appointments. In May 2013, a Bristol Township detective visited Vasquez’s apartment, where he learned he and his mom had moved out a year earlier, court documents said.
In April, former Bristol Township resident Samuel Lovelace, 29, a convicted moderate-risk sex offender who had not updated his registration with state police since 2010, was arrested in Norristown for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl during the time he was listed as non-compliant with Megan’s Law.
Lovelace, who is awaiting trial in Montgomery County, had been unaccounted for nearly three years before Bristol Township filed an arrest warrant for alleged Megan’s Law violations.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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