Palmer man charged with molesting 15-year-old girl

PALMER — A 44-year-old Valley man was indicted Wednesday by a Palmer grand jury on sex abuse charges, for allegedly molesting a 15-year-old family member.

Lenard L. Johnson of Palmer is set to appear in Palmer Superior Court today to be arraigned on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

The alleged sexual assaults of the teen-age girl occurred over the course of a week in February at Johnson's home, court documents stated.

On three different nights, Lenard returned from work at his job at Fort Richardson between 11 p.m. and 1 p.m., entered the room where the 15-year-old was sleeping and molested her, according to charging documents.

On Feb. 21, the girl told her mother Lenard had been touching her, court records stated. The girl's mother confronted Lenard and he denied the sexual assault allegations.

Lenard told Alaska State Troopers he wanted to prove his innocence and take a polygraph test. The lie detector test was conducted on Lenard on March 2 by troopers and was found inconclusive.