Hernando County Jury Convicts Seffner Man on Five Sex Crimes, Earns Life Sentence

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, of Seffner, was sentenced to life in prison on March 5 after a Hernando County jury convicted him in February on five counts of sexual crimes against two juvenile victims, one under 12 years old and one between 12 and 16.

The jury found Johnson guilty of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim under 12, lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim 12 or older but under 16, two counts of lewd or lascivious exhibition, and transmission of material harmful to a minor by electronic device. Because Florida abolished parole in 1983, the life sentence means Johnson will die in prison. The facility where he will serve that sentence has not yet been determined.

The case began in July 2025 when deputies with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office responded to a Brooksville residence after receiving a call about a sex offense. According to a press release from State Attorney William Gladson, two juvenile victims told deputies they had both been inappropriately touched by Johnson. Charges were filed in Hernando County, where the crimes occurred, though Johnson lives in Seffner, an unincorporated community east of Tampa in Hillsborough County.

Investigators uncovered a pattern of calculated grooming. The victims told authorities that Johnson bought them gifts and food to buy their silence and warned them to never tell anyone because he would get into trouble. Johnson also allegedly told one victim that he expected to receive significant financial compensation tied to a pardon he had received, and that he planned to leave some of that money to the victim in his will.

That pardon followed a separate one-year prison sentence Johnson received in August 2024. The source of the pardon and the grounds on which it was granted have not been publicly disclosed.

The families of both victims, according to reporting by the Hernando Sun, have asked that attention remain on the children rather than on outside political dimensions of the case. The families "want the focus to be on justice for their children and not the Capitol riot or the politics of the case," the outlet reported.