LR man gets 30 years for sex assault of girl

HOT SPRINGS — A Little Rock man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to the 2015 rape of a 10-year-old girl in Hot Springs.

Derek Sean Johninson, 43, who was scheduled to stand trial March 27, appeared before Garland County Circuit Judge Marcia Hearnsberger to enter his plea to the felony charge, punishable by up to life in prison, and in addition to prison time was ordered to register as a sex offender and pay a $250 registration fee.

Johninson, who has remained in custody since his arrest Dec. 30, 2015, is classified as a habitual offender, having been convicted in 1991 of theft by receiving; in 1996 of theft by receiving and theft of property; in 1998 of possession of a firearm by certain persons and criminal use of a prohibited weapon; and in 2001 of first-degree terroristic threatening, all in Pulaski County. He will be given credit for time served since his arrest.

According to the affidavit, the Hot Springs Police Department was notified Sept. 13, 2015, by officers with the Racine, Wis., Police Department that a 10-year-old girl in their jurisdiction had filed a complaint saying Johninson had forced her to perform oral sex and raped her on multiple occasions over the past year.

She said the abuse occurred during the night at Johninson’s former residence in Hot Springs. She said the last assault had occurred Sept. 11, 2015, in Hot Springs before she and her mother moved to Wisconsin.

The victim was examined at a hospital in Wisconsin and a sexual-assault testing kit was sent to Hot Springs police, who submitted it to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for analysis.

The lab results led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for Johninson; he was taken into custody in Little Rock.