Rumors circulated online in March 2026 that a man U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was later sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing two children.
Posts on X, Facebook (screenshot) and Threads identified the man in question as 45-year-old Andrew Paul Johnson. Snopes readers searched the website for information on him and whether he was convicted of child abuse.
The rumor was true. In February 2026, a jury in Hernando County, Florida, found Johnson guilty of multiple sex crimes against two children, one under 12 and another between the ages of 12 and 16, and he was sentenced to life in prison in March. A federal judge previously sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year of incarceration and one year of supervised release for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot.
Trump issued a mass "unconditional pardon" for Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his second term, thus freeing Johnson from prison
Snopes previously confirmed Johnson's arrest in August 2025. His mugshot (archived) from then also visually matches pictures of him from court documents related to his Jan. 6 charges (see Page 8).
Johnson's convictions related to child sex abuse
Hernando County court documents indicated that in February 2026, a jury found Johnson guilty of five counts: lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old, lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim between 12 and 16, two counts of lewd or lascivious exhibition and transmission of harmful information to a minor.
The chief prosecuting attorney's office in Florida's Fifth Judicial Circuit, which serves Hernando County, announced in a March 5 news release that Johnson received a sentence of life in prison. As of this writing, the sentencing document has not yet been published.
A search of prisoners (archived) in Hernando County showed law enforcement booked Johnson on Sept. 8, 2025, on charges related to child sex abuse.
According to an affidavit, Johnson told one of the victims — likely in an attempt to prevent the boy from "exposing what Andrew had done to him" — that he "was pardoned for storming the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and he was being awarded $10,000,000 as a result of being a 'jan 6'er'" and "that he would be putting him in his 'will' to take any money he had left over."
Both of Johnson's victims testified that they were too afraid to tell adults about what had happened, NPR reported based on
Johnson's role in Jan. 6
For his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful entry, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, according to court documents. He was also convicted for parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Another court document filed April 2025 vacated the initial judgment and dismissed the case "as moot" due to Trump's pardon.
Johnson's participation in the riot included "breaching the U.S. Capitol Building through a broken window, encouraging other rioters, belligerently accosting police officers, and rioting for over four hours stopping only due to arrest," according to the first page of a sentencing memorandum filed by the federal government under former President Joe Biden.
The memo also said Johnson called for a second Jan. 6 on social media, did not comply with his release conditions — including by driving under the influence, resisting an officer and via retail theft — and obstructed or attempted to obstruct justice by releasing the names of FBI special agents who had worked on Johnson's case (see Page 2).