MUSKEGON, MI – It took less than an hour for a jury to convict Carlton Lindbergh Johnson, a 77-year-old longtime pastor of a Muskegon church, of raping two young relatives and sexually touching a third, over a period of years when they were children.

Johnson, wearing a dark suit with a clerical collar and seated in a wheelchair, showed no emotion as the verdict was read, his expression an unchanging scowl.

In a verdict reached just before 4 p.m. Friday, May 2, jurors found Johnson guilty of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, for sexual penetration of two different girls, and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexual contact with a third girl.

One girl was younger than 13 when Johnson penetrated her, she testified. The other two were between 13 and 15 when the crimes charged against Johnson happened, they testified -- although the girl victimized in one of the first-degree penetration counts testified she was only 10 when Johnson began touching her sexually.

The sexual assaults alleged in the charges against Johnson happened over a number of years until 2012, when the police investigation began after one of the girls came forward.

But Johnson’s raping of other young female family members started decades before that, according to corroborating testimony by about a half-dozen other women who said they’d been his victims over the years.

One woman, now a 70-year-old California resident, testified Johnson sexually assaulted her as long ago as 1957.

According to testimony at the four-day trial, the rapes sometimes happened in the basement of Johnson’s home, sometimes in his office at Faith Congregational Church of God in Christ, 509 Jackson Ave., where Johnson used the title of bishop.

“It was justice a long time coming,” said Muskegon County Assistant Prosecutor Rachael McEnhill, who prosecuted the case, after the verdict.

Asked why decades of sexual abuse hadn’t been disclosed sooner, McEnhill said, “I think that there was a lot of family pressure and pressure within the church. And according to the expert that testified, it is very common for people to go their entire lives without disclosing sexual abuse.”

Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks scheduled sentencing for 1:30 p.m. June 2.

Sentencing on the first-degree convictions could range up to life in prison, with 15 years the maximum on the second-degree count.

In her closing argument to jurors, McEnhill pointed to a slide of the church’s signboard, with the slogan “TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT.”

“That’s why we’re here,” McEnhill said. “We’re here because this family and this church kept a secret for 50 years. ... Because victim after victim after victim was raped ... These three girls were brave enough (to tell the truth). And it is compelling, and it is true.”

She said none of the women testifying had anything to gain, and plenty to lose, by making up the accusations.

In his closing argument, Muskegon County Public Defender Fred Johnson argued that the case defied credibility, that such conduct couldn’t have been hidden in an active house where family members constantly came in and out.

Johnson attributed what he suggested were false allegations to tensions within the family and church. “This is a family issue,” Johnson said. “This is a terribly dysfunctional family ... and it hasn’t been proven to be anything else.”

After months of investigation by the Muskegon police, Johnson was arrested and charged in June 2013.

John S. Hausman covers courts, prisons, the environment and local government for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at jhausman@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter.