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| Lindsey Baum, 2009 |
An Aberdeen, Washington, man who worked for a non-profit that assisted children, “The Gregorian Group," has been arrested "on suspicion of multiple child rapes and molestations."
Gregory Brian Johnson will also be investigated for any ties to the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, last seen in nearby McCleary in June 2009. She would now be sixteen. Gregory Johnson lived in McCleary at the time Lindsey went missing.
The following information comes from KIROTV.com:
MONTESANO, Wash. — Gregory Brian Johnson, 48, who heads an Aberdeen nonprofit organization that works with children, has been arrested on suspicion of multiple child rapes and molestations.
On Tuesday, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO 7 it will investigate whether Johnson could have had anything to do with the 2009 disappearance of Lindsey Baum, who lived in nearby McCleary.
A department spokesman said that’s standard practice whenever someone in Grays Harbor County is suspected of abusing young girls.
Johnson was arrested on Halloween after a now-23-year-old woman told Aberdeen police that Johnson had repeatedly raped and molested her from the time she was 9 years old. Sgt. Art Laur said the woman agreed to wear a recording device and got Johnson to admit “to some of the statements she told us about what happened to her.”
The woman's 11-year-old half-brother also told police Johnson molested him from the time he was 4.
While the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office investigates a possible connection to the Baum case, Aberdeen police are investigating whether Johnson may have abused any of the children he came in contact with through his nonprofit organization. “The Gregorian Group” operated out of a downtown Aberdeen office building and offered young people a place to hang out, and coordinated hiking and camping outings, according to its Facebook page. That office is now closed.
Johnson remains behind bars at the Grays Harbor County Jail in Montesano.
Although I've not posted about Lindsey lately, I check every week for reliable news on her case, and there has been nothing but the various odd psychic insights and the heartrending prayers for her not to be forgotten. This is the first solid bit of information in years, and even this is a stretch. Yet, the feeling has always been that the perpetrator would turn out to be a "local," and a serial violator.
Way back in July 2009, the first post on this blog about missing child Lindsey gave these details, and there has been precious little to add in the five years since:
Around 9:15 pm on June 26, Lindsey J. Baum, an 11-year old from the tiny town of McCleary, Washington, disappeared while walking from a friend's house to her home, only four short blocks away.
She just had an argument with her brother, but most everyone notes that she wasn't storming off mad. She didn't have the accoutrements you'd think of when thinking of a runaway -- no money, no cell phone, no change of clothes.
Some friends set out with her, so she was accompanied for a while before they peeled off to go to their own homes for dinner, or homework, a bath or shower, whatever.
Two of those four blocks are reported to be somewhat industrial -- though we are talking *rural* small town. One block away is access to a major highway.
As any child would be, Lindsey was troubled by her parents' recent divorce. Her father lives in Tennessee... [He served a tour in Iraq shortly after her abduction, and I'm not sure where he lives now. Lindsey's mother and brother have relocated but remain near McCleary.]
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| Lindsey, as depicted through "age progression" technology |
© 2013 L. Ryan
There's no link to the disappearance of Baum. It's total b.s. Gregory would never hurt anyone. The accusations against him are false. He was set up in so that his ex wife can gain custody of his son. He has not been convicted of any crime. He has plead "not guilty" and is awaiting trial.
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