Man convicted of four counts of lewd conduct with minor

COEUR d'ALENE - A 52-year-old man was convicted of four counts of lewd conduct with a minor following a five-day jury trial that concluded May 26.

Loren “Wayne” Johnson, Jr. is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 29.

The charges stemmed from an incident between 1990 and 1999. In November of 1999, a report was filed with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department alleging Johnson had sexually abused two young children, both under the age of seven, according to a press release from the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

An investigation was completed and sent to the Prosecutor’s Office for review in the early 2000s.

"The case was sent back to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department for follow-up investigation and from there, for unknown reasons, the case sat stagnant until 2019," the release said.

In 2019, another person came forward with allegations against Johnson of sexual abuse, prompting the investigation from the 1990s to be reopened, and additional victims were discovered.

The Prosecutor’s Office presented the case to a grand jury in August 2022, alleging seven counts of sexual abuse.

The grand jury indicted on five out of the seven charges. During subsequent hearings, District Judge Barbara Duggan dismissed an additional charge.

Johnson had been charged with sexual abuse of a minor with an unrelated victim in 2003 but that case was later dismissed "for reasons unknown to the Prosecutor’s Office."

"The Prosecutor’s Office is aware of numerous victims who have made allegations of sexual abuse against Johnson," the release said.