PORT ANGELES — A 27-year-old Port Angeles man who was charged with kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint over the summer has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for indecent liberties and second-degree kidnapping.
Maxx Edward Johnson, originally charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape, accepted a plea deal in April and pleaded guilty.
On Monday, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly followed prosecutors’ recommendation for 27 months in prison.
Melly described the crime as “not just a point of time of terror, but an extended period of time where [the victim] was probably scared to death.”
Deputy Prosecutor Michele Devlin said that in discussions with the victim, “the state came to the realization this was the best outcome for all parties.”
The victim did not attend Johnson’s sentencing.
“She was very affected by the incident, so much so that her mental health was impacted,” Devlin said.
Devlin said the victim “wants to be a survivor” and didn’t want to face Johnson again.
Johnson has been ordered to undergo an evaluation for substance abuse treatment, refrain from use of drugs unless they are prescribed and submit to physical and/or psychological testing whenever requested by a community corrections officer.
He is required to undergo sex offender treatment and cannot possess firearms.
He was also ordered to pay the cost of counseling to the victim and to not have contact with the victim for 10 years.
On June 11, 2016, a woman told Port Angeles police that a man kidnapped her at knifepoint near Fifth and Laurel streets and forced her to accompany him to several areas south of downtown before taking her to an abandoned building west of downtown where he sexually assaulted her, police said.
The victim told police she was walking near the alley behind Safeway on South Lincoln Street when an unknown man approached her from behind and held a knife to her throat, according to the probable-cause statement for his arrest.
The woman told police the man, whom she didn’t know, repeatedly said the name “Max” and said he was 26 years old.
The man then took the woman to various places surrounding downtown, including the beach on the west side of Estuary Park, before he took her to an abandoned house on West Second Street, court records say.
The woman told police the man forcibly had sex with her at the house.
She was able to escape after the man “passed out,” she told police. She then went to Olympic Medical Center, where she made the report and a sexual assault examination kit was completed.
After Port Angeles police issued a news release the same day, police received a call saying Johnson matched the description that was provided, the police report says.
________
Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
