Convicted child molester sought after skipping trial
Santa Clara man, 55, who fled in mid-September faces 200 years in prison
SANTA CLARA >> A child rapist is being sought by authorities after he absconded in the middle of his trial.
Even so, the trial continued without him, and a jury convicted him of 16 sexual assault charges.
He now could spend more than 200 years in prison.
Apollo Johnsen, 55, of Santa Clara, was last heard from in mid-September, just as his trial was set to resume in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose after a three-month recess to accommodate a scheduled medical procedure. Johnsen worked as an air-conditioning repairman and owned Day & Night Furnace Co.
“A convicted child molester is on the loose,” Deputy District Attorney Jason Malinsky said. “If you see him or have any idea where he is, please call (police) right away. He belongs in prison for the heinous crimes he perpetrated on an innocent child.”
On Thursday, Johnsen was convicted of eight counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor under 14 — which included three instances of oral copulation, four instances of sexual penetration and one rape charge — and five counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14.
The 13 charges stem from allegations made by a woman — the daughter of a family friend
of Johnsen — who said he methodically molested and sexually assaulted her at his Santa Clara home starting in 2005, when she was about 6 years old, and continued for about five years.
Johnsen also was charged with three sexual assault counts from a later encounter when the victim was 16 and he raped her at her East Bay home.
The victim came forward to Santa Clara police in May 2016, after she was hospitalized for a panic attack, authorities said.
That led to Johnsen’s arrest a month later, and he was released on bail that November.
Malinsky said Johnsen made all of his required court appearances between
the May 14 start of the trial and when it was halted June 16, so that Johnsen could be treated for an undisclosed medical issue. The trial resumed Sept. 16, but Johnsen never appeared in court again.
Among those who testified in the case was a woman who accused Johnsen of raping her in 2002 in Beaumont, Texas.
Her criminal case was dismissed because she did not show up in court, though she said she received no notice to appear.
Another woman testified that Johnsen forced himself on her at his home in 2003, but that did not lead to any criminal charges.
Johnsen faces a maximum sentence of about 210 years to life in prison, a term that is amplified by a 1993 conviction for robbery and false imprisonment.
The crime occurred in
February 1992, when he posed as a heating and airconditioning repairman to get access to a Santa Clara credit union before business hours.
He held up a female employee at gunpoint and tied up another female employee who was showing up for work, before making off with more than $50,000.
Johnsen was sentenced to seven years in prison for the robbery, after which he changed his name from Dennis Ray Johnsen to Apollo Ray Johnsen.
Police ask that anyone with information about Johnsen’s whereabouts call their local police, or Santa Clara police Detective Scott Mead at 408-882-7474, or leave an anonymous tip at 408-615-4847.