BRAZOS COUNTY — A Tyler man has been arrested on a child indecency charge.
William Johnson, 23, of Tyler, was booked into the Brazos County Jail on Thursday on a charge of indecency with a child by exposure. According to the Texas Penal Code, a person commits this offense if the child is younger than 17 years old, and if the person exposes their private area(s) to the child with intent to arouse any person. An exposure offense is commonly known as “flashing.”
Johnson is one of four Texas A&M University Chi Alpha chapter members named in a suit filed in January against the General Council of the Assemblies of God, North Texas District Council Assemblies of God, Mountain Valley Fellowship, and Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at College Station.
The civil suit, filed in the 333rd Judicial District Court in Harris County, came from a Brazos County resident who is the father of a minor who was 13 years old at the time of some alleged abuse.
“The lawsuit … follows a tumultuous several months for Chi Alpha. Since last spring, a serial predator has gone to jail for child sex abuse, chapter leaders across a half-dozen Texas universities have been dismissed, and the organization’s national director resigned,” according to Christianity Today.
Johnson was released from jail later Thursday on a $25,000 bond. Two others named in the suit were also arrested, including Ryan Hoffart, 25, of College Station, and Otto Randolph, 30, of Buda. Randolph has the same charge as Johnson, while Hoffart faces the same charge plus an additional charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact. Hoffart bonded out of jail Thursday, with bonds totaling $100,000.
Johnson previously worked as a news anchor in Tyler but was no longer working at the station after news of the suit came to light in January. He is a Tyler native who started working in TV news at 18 years old for Tyler’s KETK. He also worked at KAGS in Bryan-College Station before returning to East Texas in 2023, where he worked at CBS19 for a brief time before the allegations arose.
What does the lawsuit allege?
At the center of the suit is Eli Russel J. Stewart, who relaunched the Chi Alpha chapter at Texas A&M in 2017 and planted a church, Mountain Valley Fellowship. Stewart served as lead pastor of the church until 2023, according to the suit.
Stewart allowed members of the TAMU Chi Alpha chapter, including Johnson and three others including Hoffart, Randolph and Alex Owens, to serve as group leaders to youth, according to the suit. He also allowed church youth, including the minor victim, to be around a known sex offender, Daniel Savala.
Savala, 67, is registered as a lifetime sex offender and was placed on the registry in 2013 after being indicted on 11 counts of continuous sexual contact and sexual abuse of a child in Alaska. Savala pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse of a minor and was convicted in October 2012. Previous suits allege Savala, who has been known as a mentor to men of faith such as Stewart, has had access to many college-aged men he “has groomed and sexually abused” over a 30-plus-year association with Chi Alpha. Savala is currently jailed in the McLennan County Jail in Waco, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
As lead pastor of the church, Stewart allegedly subjected the church’s youth to Savala’s “deviant sexual propensities toward minor males,” according to the suit.
In November 2022, TAMU Chi Alpha members led a gathering and invited the plaintiff’s then 13-year-old child. The suit alleges the child was “dry humped” by Johnson, Hoffart, Randolph and Owens. This is the only mention in the suit where Johnson is accused of allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with the minor.
In January, Johnson said in a statement to the Tyler Morning Telegraph that he denies the allegations and could not further comment on pending litigation.
At this same gathering, the lawsuit claims other lewd acts allegedly took place. Unnamed Chi Alpha members allegedly showed the young teenager their private body parts, forced the teen’s face into their crotches, pulled the teen’s pants down, and other inappropriate sexual acts, the suit claims.
In October 2021, Hoffart allegedly took the young teen to Savala’s Houston home. Hoffart and Savala are accused of making the teen strip off his clothing and sit naked with them in a sauna, asking the teen to touch Savala’s genitals and other inappropriate acts that are sexual in nature, the suit claims.
What is next?
The plaintiff is seeking over $1 million in monetary relief, and claims for relief include one count of negligence against the Assemblies of God; one count against North Texas Assemblies of God; one count against Mountain Valley Fellowship; one count against Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship; and compensatory and punitive damages. The claims allege the religious entities’ negligence to “properly monitor and supervise” Johnson, Hoffart, Randolph and Owens’ alleged activities and failing to properly screen the four of them. The suit alleges the four men posed “dangers” to children and families. The plaintiff also alleges the four men had opportunities to take “emotional and physical advantage of minor children,” according to the suit.
The suit claims Chi Alpha failed to protect and/or warn minors and their families “when Hoffart, Randolph, Johnson and Owens knew or should have known that minor children … were being sexually abused and/or were in danger of being sexually abused as Hoffart, Randolph, Johnson and Owens had previously witnessed (child of the plaintiff) being sexually abused.”
The plaintiff is also seeking a jury trial.
Anthony K. Bruster, of Bruster PLLC, is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff. He spoke to the Tyler Morning Telegraph in January and was unable to answer some questions due to ongoing litigation. However, he said much will play out in court.
“I can tell you that I hope the next steps involve Chi Alpha and the other defendants accepting responsibility for what happened to our clients, but as you have seen from other public information, this has been an ongoing problem with them for many years and they have yet to do much of anything about it,” Bruster said.
All three men bonded out of jail. Owens has not been charged with anything at this time, according to public records.
Indecency with a child by exposure is a felony of the third degree, according to the Texas Penal Code. It is punishable by two to a maximum of 10 years in prison and/or a maximum possible fine of up to $10,000.
If found guilty of the charge(s), the men could be required to register as sex offenders under Texas law.
