A Florida man who was pardoned by Trump for his role in January 6 Capitol incident has just been arrested for some pretty messed up crimes against children. Andrew Paul Johnson, who is 45 and a handyman in Hernando County, made headlines this week when a jury found him guilty of a slew of felony child sex abuse charges. It has left people scratching their heads about what happens after someone receives a pardon like that.
The trial concluded on February 10, 2026, right in the Hernando County Circuit Court. They found him guilty of five serious offenses: lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under (this is essentially sexual contact with a minor), another molestation charge involving a child between 12 and 16, two charges of lewd or lascivious exhibition (exposure to minors under 16), and one for lewd or lascivious conduct.
A tweet from X.
He beat one charge about sending sexual stuff to a minor. Prosecutors laid it out that this went on for months, with physical touching and exposure, and it started when one of the victims was only 11.
“This dude could be looking at life behind bars,”
Said William Forgie, the chief assistant state attorney for Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit.
Here’s how it all went down: First, it all went down on January 6, 2021, when Johnson was right in the middle of the Capitol riot, climbing in through a broken window. Then, in April 2024, he pleads guilty to some non-violent crimes against the federal government and serves a year in the clink that August. Then, on January 20, 2025, Trump goes around pardoning 1,500 people from the Jan. 6 riot, including Johnson. But meanwhile, from April to October 2024, he’s allegedly committing this terrible act in Hernando County against at least one young girl. By July 2025, the local sheriff’s department gets a tip about some bad touching and starts investigating. They catch him in Tennessee in August 2025 and send him back to Florida, where he pleads not guilty. Finally, on February 10, 2026, the jury finds him guilty on those five charges. Sentencing is scheduled for March 2026.
Johnson was all over social media calling himself a “Proud J6er” and even broke some pretrial rules in his federal case. He did about a year before the pardon sprung him. But remember, that pardon only wiped the federal slate clean state crimes like this? Totally fair game. Trump used to call these rioters “peaceful people” and “great people” in his speeches.
From the court docs, it turns out Johnson tried to keep one victim quiet by dangling this wild story about getting $10 million in “restitution” from the Trump admin for being a Jan. 6 participant. According to the sheriff’s affidavit, he straight-up told the kid:
“he was pardoned for storming Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and he was being awarded $10,000,000 as a result of being a ‘jan 6’er'”
And promised to hook them up in his will. Of course, none of that money ever showed up, as per all the checked-out reports.
He’s sitting in jail now, waiting for that March 2026 hearing. Under Florida law, he’s gotta do at least 25 years for this, and life isn’t off the table. Forgie didn’t hold back in his chats with the press about how bad this is.
Online, folks are losing it social media’s full of rage, with people ripping on his so-called “god-fearing” vibe while slamming Trump. X is blowing up with ironic takes, but sites like Snopes have fact-checked it and confirmed it’s legit, no hype added. This isn’t a one-off; at least 33 other pardoned Jan. 6ers have racked up new charges since, some involving kid sex crimes too. Solid reporting from places like NPR and NBC helps sort the real from the noise.
