Man who admitted raping a child seeks to withdraw guilty plea

Just days before his sentencing hearing, a Worcester man filed court documents indicating he wants to withdraw his guilty plea to charges he sexually assaulted an underage girl on multiple occasions while she was in his company at various locations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, including Plymouth, Elkins Park and Whitemarsh.

Abram Cornell Johnson, 34, of the 1400 block of North Wales Road, through his lawyers, filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea in Montgomery County Court on Monday.

Johnson was scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2 after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a

child and sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred between 1998 and 2016 when the victim was between the ages of 4 and 22.

“The defendant now seeks to withdraw his guilty plea and have the matter scheduled for trial. The defendant maintains, as he has since his arrest, that he should be found not guilty of some or all of these charges,” defense lawyer Matthew Sedacca wrote in court papers.

It’s unclear if Judge Leonard N. Zito, a senior judge from Northampton County, will hold a hearing on the request. An out-ofcounty judge was assigned to preside over the case because Johnson is known by a member of the Montgomery County bench.

Under state law, judges have the discretion to permit defendants to withdraw a guilty plea at any time before the imposition of a sentence, Sedacca argued.

Previously, Zito allowed Johnson to remain free on bail pending the sentencing hearing. Johnson had to surrender his passport as a condition of bail. Zito also ordered Johnson to have no contact with the victim or her family.

Johnson potentially faces decades in prison on the charges.

After Johnson’s guilty plea, Assistant District Attorney Erika Lyn Wevodau indicated she’d seek at least a 10-year mandatory prison term that is available under law to prosecutors for the charge of rape of a child. Wevodau argued the multiple incidences of abuse and the longevity of the abuse warranted a lengthy prison sentence.

An investigation began in December 2016, when a woman reported to the Plymouth Township Police Department that she had been sexually assaulted by Johnson over the course of several years at various times while she was in his company.

The woman told detectives that at the age of 4 she resided in Philadelphia and that Johnson, who knew her family, sexually assaulted her and raped her on at least one occasion while he was at her home, according to the criminal complaint filed by Plymouth Detective Joseph LaPenta III.

The victim reported that between the ages of 6 and 14 she resided at another Philadelphia residence and that Johnson sexually assaulted her “over a hundred times” when he visited that residence during those years, court papers indicate.

The victim told detectives that when she was between the ages of 14 and 16 her family lived in Elkins Park and she said Johnson “would figure out when no one would be home” and visit her. The victim claimed Johnson also occasionally took her to his Blue Bell residence at that time and sexually assaulted her there, according to the arrest affidavit.

Other sexual assaults occurred while the victim was living at a Plymouth residence when she was between 16- and 18-years of age and later at her Whitemarsh residence, detectives alleged.

During the December 2016 investigation, the victim consented to an intercepted phone call with Johnson and prosecutors approved the wiretap after determining the victim’s consent was given freely and voluntarily, according to court documents. That recorded call between the victim and Johnson occurred on Dec. 15, 2016, court documents indicate.

“During the conversation, Johnson admits to having sexual relations with (the victim) while she was a teenager, but later said the sexual assaults began when she was seven years of age,” LaPenta alleged.