Frankford girl survives
a horrific rape ordeal

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

A 16-year-old Frankford girl survived a house of horrors ordeal last Thursday as a local man abducted her on her way to school, held her captive for half of the day and repeatedly raped her before she escaped.
The victim suffered "significant" cuts to her neck and hand, but her injuries are not life threatening, according to authorities.
Detectives from the Philadelphia Police Department’s special victims unit hunted down the suspect using the girl’s account of events and other clues and arrested him on Friday at his home, where he allegedly had bound her in a second-floor bedroom.
Jason Johnson, 32, of the 1600 block of Orthodox St., has been charged with 19 crimes, including attempted murder, rape, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and kidnapping.
"He was going to kill her," said Capt. John Darby, commander of the special victims unit.
Investigators believe that’s what Johnson intended to do when he drove the teen to Wissinoming Park, at Frankford and Cheltenham avenues, at about 6 p.m. on Thursday, about 11 hours after he had abducted the Simon Gratz High School sophomore as she walked to her local El stop.
Johnson allegedly dragged the victim into the park and slashed her throat with a pocketknife. Soon after, however, the attacker forced her back to his parked vehicle and then drove away without her.
A Good Samaritan found the bleeding girl and drove her home, when her family called 911. The Samaritan then drove the victim and a family member to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children at the direction of police.
She helped detectives capture Johnson and was released from the medical facility late on Friday.
The episode began minutes after the girl left home that morning. Johnson allegedly approached her on foot on the 1300 block of Orthodox St. and told her he had a gun. He forced her to walk to his house three blocks away, Darby said.
Once there, Johnson allegedly restrained the girl and assaulted her repeatedly throughout the day. Johnson is also charged with photographing or filming a sex act with a minor. Authorities did not comment on what alleged actions prompted that charge.
After her eventual escape, the girl told police that she had never before seen the attacker. Yet, investigators narrowed down their search using the locations and descriptions offered by the victim.
Police eventually spotted a gray sedan similar to the one used by the suspect.
According to court records, Johnson was arrested in January 2002 on many of the same charges that he now faces, including rape, aggravated assault, IDSI and unlawful restraint. The complaint against him emerged from an incident exactly one year earlier.
After being ordered to stand trial on all charges, he pleaded guilty in December 2002 to simple assault and was sentenced to up to 23 months in county prison. The rest of the charges were dropped at the time of his plea. It is unknown how much time Johnson spent behind bars.
Johnson is being held in lieu of 10 percent of $2.5 million bail. He is scheduled for a Jan. 15 preliminary hearing.
Police ask that anyone with information about the latest sexual assault or other possibly related assaults call the special victims unit at 215-685-3251, 3252 or 3253. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com