Untreated sex offender gets 25 years in prison

For the third time in less than 10 years, Johan Smith has been sent to prison for sex offender violations.
On May 26, at the recommendation of Stillwater County Attorney Nancy Rohde, Smith was given a 25-year prison sentence for his repeated failure to register as a sex offender and for what authorities say is predatory behavior with children. Rohde noted that an evaluation conducted by a well known and highly respected sex offender evaluator found that Smith was not an appropriate candidate for community placement.
Smith, 49, was also designated a Persistent Felony Offender, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
In addition, Smith will not be eligible for parole until he completes Phases 1 and 2 of the Montana State Prison sex offender program.
Defense attorney Greg Paskell called the case complicated and asked for a 10-year sentence, noting that his client had not committed any new crimes since 1996.
Rohde quickly countered that assertion, saying Smith had not committed new crimes “because we found him before he could do anything.”
Twenty-second Judicial District Court Judge Blair Jones agreed.
“You present a significant danger to young children,” said Jones. “I can’t let the past repeat itself.”
Jones also designated Smith a Level 2 offender for classification purposes, which means he is a moderate risk to reoffend.

HISTORY
Smith was most recently arrested in March 2015 following a citizen’s tip that he was in Stillwater County and making prohibited contact with young children. When Smith made an initial appearance, Jones doubled his bail to $100,000.
According to the state’s Sexual Violent Offender Registry, Smith had been listed as a “non-compliant registrant” and “address verification overdue.” His last known address was in Billings but he had not been there for six weeks prior to his arrest in Stillwater County. Additionally, he had not made contact with the state’s Sexual and Violent Registry Offender network since 2013.
State law requires convicted sex offenders to register as convicted sex offenders. Such offenders are also required to contact authorities where they are living.
Smith has been convicted of that same offense twice in Stillwater County and been sent to prison.
Smith’s criminal history includes convictions for attempted rape in Virginia in 1988, third degree sexual assault in Washington in 1996, failing to register as a sex offender in Still water County in 2009 and violating his probation by having contact with young children just two weeks after being released from prison in 2011.
In the 2009 case, Smith claimed he did not realize he had to register as a sexual offender with the state. His non-compliant status was discovered when he was arrested for DUI by Columbus police.
In 2011 he was sent back to prison after admitting to being around young children just two weeks after being released from state custody from the 2009 case.
That incident occurred at the Women’s Shelter in Billings at which Billings police found him six feet away from a 3-year-old girl and her mother, according to prosecutors.
Law men also learned Smith had taken a 4-year-old boy and his father to a grocery store and bought the child a toy, as well as spending time at the shelter.