Oregonian sentenced to prison in Othello child-rape case

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Eastern Oregon man convicted of raping two children in an Othello hotel has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.

Albert Wayne Johnson, 42, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and 10 years of probation.

U.S. District Court documents show that on Aug. 8, 2022, deputies from the Clackamas County, Ore., Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of two minors abandoned at Barton Park in Boring, Ore.

The children told the deputies they met Johnson on Snapchat and that he had driven them from Washington state through Idaho and into Oregon, and had sexually abused both during the trip, records show. Along the way, Johnson stopped at a motel in Othello, Wash., where he abused the children.

He also stopped at a campground near La Grande, Ore., where he continued to abuse one of the children, records show. After arriving in Boring, Johnson left the children at a campsite in Barton Park and never returned.

In August 2022, after receiving information about the abduction and abuse, Othello detectives contacted the motel in Othello and obtained surveillance footage showing Johnson with the two children, records show.

On Aug. 30, 2022, officers from the La Grande Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office, Union County Probation Department and Umatilla Tribal Police arrested Johnson at his home in La Grande on an outstanding parole violation warrant.

On Oct. 5, 2022, Johnson was charged with coercing and enticing a minor and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Then on Nov. 2, 2022, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a three-count indictment charging Johnson with traveling across state lines to engage in a sexual act with a minor, transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and commission of a sex offense by a registered sex offender.

Johnson pleaded guilty Jan. 24, 2024, to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.