Rapist With HIV Given 159 Years

Six women--all of them victims of a rapist who carries the AIDS virus--listened quietly Monday as the ex-convict was sentenced to 159 years in prison.

Authorities said Monette Johnson, 35, cannot be released from prison before 2073, but that provided scant solace for his victims.

“Monette Johnson is the true essence of evil, and he has no remorse at all for anything he has done,” said one of the women. “He deserves not to see the light of day (while) free again.”

A second victim said, “I just wanted to say to Mr. Monette that even on your deathbed, you’ll never understand the pain you have caused all of us the past two years.”

“I don’t ever want to see or hear from this piece of filth again,” said a third victim, a woman so brutalized by his attack that she must use a crutch and requires the assistance of a trained dog to help her walk.

Johnson’s case gained notoriety when several of his victims were informed by health officials that they had been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS.

While four of the victims were told they were exposed, they are prevented by law from learning the source of the exposure. It is a felony under state law to reveal whether someone carries the HIV virus--even a convicted rapist.

“In this type of situation where someone is charged with a sexual assault, (confidentiality) is not appropriate because he is forced to take that (HIV) test,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Phillip H. Rabichow. “So why should he have any right to confidentiality?”

Outside court, the disabled woman blamed Johnson for sending her on a journey of uncertainty and fear.

After a 7 a.m. phone call from health department officials, the woman went to a meeting at which she was told she had been exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus, but she was not told who was responsible, she said.

“I know who it was because I am not sexually active,” said the woman, who, ironically, tried to prevent her rape by falsely telling Johnson that she was infected with HIV.

All six of the women said that their tests for the HIV virus have been negative for more than a year, by which time the virus is usually detectable, although they continue to be tested regularly as a precaution.

Johnson, of Lake View Terrace, was convicted a month ago on 26 felony charges. Half of those were sex counts, including rape and sodomy. The jury found that Johnson assaulted six women and one man during a series of late-night break-ins in the San Fernando Valley in 1991 and early 1992.

Superior Court Judge John Fisher sentenced Johnson after reading a lengthy list of his previous crimes, which date back to an arrest for robbery in 1972 when he was juvenile. Johnson has spent at least 11 years in prison as an adult. He was paroled in July, 1991, five weeks before the first rape.

After the sentencing, Fisher commended the victims’ “courage” and “great dignity” for testifying against Johnson and praised the Los Angeles Police Department for compiling evidence.