Liz Shepard

Port Huron Times Herald

A man running for a spot on the Croswell-Lexington board of education pleaded no contest in 2014 to secretly videotaping a teenage girl getting in and out of a shower.

Steven Donald Johnston, 33, was sentenced in November 2014 to up to two years in prison on a charge of eavesdropping-installing/using device. His jail time was capped at five months as part of a plea deal.

Johnston is on probation until Nov. 12, according to the state’s Offender Tracking Information System. He also pleaded no contest to aggravated assault in 2010 and was sentenced to no more than one year, according to state records.

Voters will decide board of education members in the Nov. 8 general election. A candidate only has to prove they live within the district to run, the county clerk said.

Johnston, though, said he never recorded the girl and that he was targeted because officials don’t like his family.

He was originally charged with capturing/distributing image of unclothed person, eavesdropping-installing/using device and malicious use of telecommunications services.

The girl, who was 15 at the time, was babysitting his children, according to police reports obtained by the Times Herald under the Freedom of Information Act.

The girl’s father, whom the Times Herald is not naming to protect the identity of the victim, said he was upset with the plea deal because it saved Johnston from going onto the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.

Capturing/distributing image of unclothed person is a Tier I offense under the Sex Offender Registration Act if the victim is a minor.

According to the documents obtained through the FOIA, Johnston told investigators he set up the camera in the bathroom to see which of his children was peeing on the toilet seat.

In a Wednesday phone interview, however, Johnston said he wasn’t filming and didn’t know why or how a camera got into the bathroom.

“I seen the video … I seen when he came in with a smile on his face to get the camera off,” the victim’s father said.

The camera looked like a towel hook, according to the father. The father was given the video by someone staying at Johnston’s home who found it, according to police reports.

The man said his family lives in a mobile home community Johnston’s family owns in the Croswell area. He said he wanted Johnston on the sex offender registry because of the number of children in the area.

The man said his daughter had to be taken to a hospital in July for an anxiety attack when she saw signs announcing Johnston’s candidacy for the Cros-Lex board.

He said at the time of the taping in 2014, his daughter was helping Johnston’s family for a few days and staying the night to watch two very young children.

“She looked up to them like an aunt and uncle,” he said.

Johnston said he can’t be seen removing the camera in the video and his fingerprints weren’t on it.

“I was brushing my teeth and taking a shit … it doesn’t show me doing anything like that,” he said of the video authorities believe was filmed in June 2014.

According to the police reports, Johnston also texted the girl pictures of his penis and told her he wanted to have sex with her.

Johnston said that wasn’t the case. He said there were three people who used the victim's phone number and he didn’t know whom he was texting.

According to the police report, text messages from Johnston’s cell number to the victim included, “Can you keep a secret??!!! I really wanna have sex with you and … Please don’t tell.” sent April 1, 2014, an image of a penis sent June 27, 2014, and “Lol. I want to have sex with a minor. That plain enough. Lamo.” sent June 29, 2014.

Johnston said he agreed to the plea deal only because it included dropping an intimidation charge pending against his mother.

Johnston said the prosecutor’s office has issues with his family, and added he never lost custody of his children during the case.

Johnston said the charge against his mother, Renae Perry, had to do with a resident in one of their mobile home parks.

According to the police report obtained through a FOIA request, the victim’s father said Perry told him to drop the charges against Johnston or she would press slander charges on him, as well as “make sure things happened to his kids.”

Perry told police she had contact with the father only when he was having a dispute with another resident, according to the police report.

Sanilac County Prosecutor James V. Young said the plea did include not authorizing charges against Johnston’s mother, and said his office has no grudges against the family. Johnston, he said, is guilty of what he pleaded to.

“I’m not aware of any dispute with the family. They operate a very legitimate mobile home estates … nice people as far as I know,” Young said. “It’s too late for all his false claims now.”

Johnston said the case was based on small-town grudges.

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“I grew up in this area. I’ve been here my entire life. Everyone knows what I do before I even do it,” he said.

Johnston works in the family business and is also a volunteer firefighter with the Elk Township Fire Department.

Brad Watson has worked for Johnston for the past year and a half and said his family has been friends with Johnston’s for years.

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Watson said Johnston is a good guy.

“He’s nothing like that. He’s a genuine person. He takes care of his children. He works hard, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that what happened two years ago was either a big misunderstanding or he had nothing to do with it,” Watson said. “If he was really such a dirt ball and I don’t know, promiscuous I guess, why would his (ex-girlfriend) allow him to see the kids … I just don’t see how that would be possible.”

Tom Gilbert has known Johnston for years and said he doesn't believe he committed the crime.

"He's the biggest hearted kid I've seen in a long time ... There's nobody who works harder than him," Gilbert said.

Johnston is known for helping out those in need, he said.

Johnston said he sees his three daughters with an ex-girlfriend every week and he meets them every morning for school. He has sole custody of his 7-year-old son who was from another relationship.

Johnston filed his candidacy July 6 and paid the $100 fee instead of gathering necessary signatures.

Contact Liz Shepard at 810-989-6273 or lshepard@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lvshepard.