VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) \u2014 A former Orange County Fire Authority assistant fire chief is on trial in San Diego County, accused of multiple sex crimes against children.<\/p>\n
Phil Johnson, 60, worked in the fire service for decades.<\/p>\n
According to a 2019 Yorba Linda City Council meeting, Johnson began working at OCFA in 2001 and progressed through the ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy to work in a collaborative effort with the city government, the sheriff\u2019s department and of course, serving the citizens,\u201d Johnson said during that 2019 council meeting, where he was introduced as division fire chief.<\/p>\n
He retired from OCFA as assistant chief in 2022.<\/p>\n
In 2025, law enforcement in San Diego County arrested Johnson, accusing him of molesting his two step-nieces. He faces three charges of lewd acts.<\/p>\n
The alleged crimes happened between 2001 and 2008 at the Rancho Santa Fe home of Johnson\u2019s mother, the victims\u2019 step-grandmother.<\/p>\n
There is no time limit on when charges can be filed in certain child sex abuse cases.<\/p>\n
During a preliminary hearing in mid-January, the judge did not permit cameras in court. As Johnson walked into the courtroom in a blue jail jumpsuit, he turned to look at supporters in the courtroom and smiled at them.<\/p>\n
Both victims are now adults in their 20s. One testified she was around five years old when Johnson molested her on two separate occasions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure what I thought was normal at five,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her sister testified she was around six or seven years old when the alleged crime occurred. The victim said she opened the door to use the bathroom at a family party. Johnson was inside at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me to come closer to him,\u201d she testified. The now 23-year-old woman said he made her touch his private area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not know what to do. I felt frozen,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were always told to listen to adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said they were interrupted when someone knocked on the door, and Johnson panicked. She ran into the house crying.<\/p>\n
When asked why she did not say anything at the time, she said, \u201cI felt like no one would really listen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was years later when the two victims said their mother \u2014 Johnson\u2019s stepsister \u2014 confessed to them that Johnson abused her too. Johnson does not face charges in connection with that case.<\/p>\n
As the girls got older, they tried to avoid Johnson. They testified Johnson was \u201cforced\u201d back into their lives in late 2024 when their grandmother died and they had to see him again. One sister said she was concerned for her younger cousins\u2019 well-being.<\/p>\n
It was in December 2024 when they finally reported what they said happened with Johnson to the San Diego Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
In court, Johnson\u2019s attorney questioned the victims\u2019 timeline and the details of their testimony. Johnson denied all the allegations against him.<\/p>\n
The OCFA released a statement to ABC 10News when asked about Johnson\u2019s criminal charges.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson wrote, \u201cWe are aware of reports out of San Diego regarding a former employee who separated from the OCFA in 2022 and is no longer affiliated with the agency. Because this is an active legal matter, the OCFA has no further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson remains in jail on $500,000 bail. Each charge faces 15 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n
His next court date is scheduled for later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) \u2014 A former Orange County Fire Authority assistant fire chief is on trial in San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[41867,2602,12032,3409,3802,15726,27477,100,2083,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-145059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-assistant","tag-charges","tag-chief","tag-child","tag-fire","tag-former","tag-molestation","tag-news","tag-oc","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}