Navy Enlistee Denied Attacks, Court Is Told

A Navy enlisted man accused of raping an 18-year-old college student after kidnapping her at gunpoint from an Oxnard beach told detectives he engaged in consensual sex with the woman after they met at a nightclub a week earlier, according to court testimony.

Lealon Johnson, 27, who worked at a dental clinic at the base in Port Hueneme, denied forcing sex on the alleged victim and told detectives he fired, at her request, a round from his gun while she performed oral sex on him inside a public restroom.

“He said it was consensual,” Det. Robin Whitney testified Wednesday during a preliminary hearing on rape, kidnapping and sex assault charges in Ventura County Superior Court.

Whitney testified that during a police interview Johnson initially denied engaging in any sexual relations with the woman, but later characterized the Sept. 19 encounter as consensual.

The woman offered a starkly different account, however.

She told Det. Sharon Giles that she and a male companion were confronted by an armed man, whom she did not know, as they sat in the woman’s truck at Kiddie Beach. The woman told Giles the stranger demanded money, then ordered her from the vehicle and into a nearby public restroom where he forced her to perform oral sex.

“She was afraid he was either going to harm her physically or shoot her,” Giles said.

At one point, the assailant fired a round from the gun, leading the victim’s 19-year-old male companion to fear she had been killed, the detective said.

As the friend drove to a police station, Johnson allegedly forced the victim into his car and drove to an unknown location where he raped her. The woman told Giles she fled after the assault and sought help at a pizza parlor.

Johnson, who has pleaded not guilty, was linked to the alleged rape on Oct. 25, the same day a woman stationed at the base reported a similar assault to Port Hueneme police.

The woman, 22, testified Wednesday that she and a male companion were confronted by an armed man while mixing drinks behind a liquor store at Ventura Road and Channel Islands Boulevard.

She said the assailant, whom she identified in court as Johnson, demanded money and then led the couple down an alley where he held a gun to her head and forced her to perform oral sex. She said Johnson threatened to shoot her companion, also an airman at the base, if she did not comply.

The assailant later fled on foot, leaving a car behind in the parking lot that authorities matched through motor vehicle records to Johnson.

Port Hueneme police contacted their counterparts in Oxnard the same day and advised detectives they had a suspect in custody who may be linked to the Kiddie Beach incident. It was at that point that Whitney and Giles interviewed Johnson, who denied that a rape had occurred.

According to Whitney, Johnson also denied sexually assaulting the woman in the alley.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Johnson’s attorney did not contest the criminal charges. But he challenged the credibility of the female airman by establishing that she and her companion intended to sneak alcohol back onto the base in violation of military rules. The woman also acknowledged that she was under investigation by the military for allegedly cheating on a test.

Johnson was held to answer 11 charges, including rape, forced oral copulation, robbery and kidnapping. A trial date is expected to be set this month.