Johnson
WHITE PLAINS – A Mount Vernon man was arrested on charges of felony sex abuse for luring a teenage woman into his home by using a dog-walking service app, rover.com, on the pretense he was looking for a dog sitter.
Once inside his home, Charles Johnson, 39, allegedly solicited sex and forcibly groped the woman. She escaped and immediately called police. There was no dog in the house.
Prosecutors are looking into other instances over the past three years in Mount Vernon and Yonkers where they allege the same man used flyers posted near schools and Craigslist ads to lure teens and women to his home to perform “jobs” for him in exchange for money.
District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr. said in some instances he posted flyers advertising for a helper to videotape his workouts, being his “cheerleader” while he worked out, or in another instance, advertised for an “amateur painter” to pain the interior of his home.”
No charges were filed in the earlier incidents. Anyone who has knowledge of similar activity is urged to call their local police.
Johnson is in jail without bail because of three prior felony convictions.
