Man Accused of Indecent Exposure Tells His Story

A registered sex offender arrested last week says a report that he exposed himself to a woman may have been fabricated as an attempt to get him moved from his neighborhood.

Robert Johnson, of Livermore, was .

Johnson, 56, was released from jail early Saturday after the district attorney's office declined to file charges against him Friday at the Gale-Schenone Hall of Justice in Pleasanton.

Teresa Drenick, Alameda County deputy district attorney, said the case is pending further investigation and that no charging decision has been made.

"It sounds a little fishy to me," Johnson said in an interview with Livermore Patch. "All this happened after she looked at an online database rather than calling the police immediately."

Johnson is featured in an online database of sex offenders. Three offenses are listed for Johnson in the database by the California Attorney General's Office:

• sex penetration with foreign object of victim under 14 years of age;
• lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age; and
• oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age or by force or fear.

Johnson said the incident was more than 20 years ago and that he has had a clean record since 1996.

"Not even a traffic ticket," he said.

Johnson, who lives on the 3900 block of Yale Way, reports other harrassment-type incidents since he registered as a sex offender. He's had someone post a large sign in his yard with the message: "Watch your kids."

"I've had people drive by and taunt me, but that comes with the territory," he said. "There's a group of people out to get me, and they want me out of the community."

Last week's reported incident was an authorized citizen's arrest, police said.

At 8:10 a.m. on Oct. 26, a woman said she was walking on the 3900 block of East Avenue when Johnson, parked in his car, called her over for directions.

The woman said Johnson was nude from the waist down, Sgt. Erin Cole said.

The woman said she then went home and used an online sex offender database to identify Johnson and then reported the incident to police.

Johnson said he was asleep when the woman said the incident occurred and never left the house that day. He has since given a home surveillance video to authorities to back up his statement.

On Monday, Johnson was shopping to beef up his home security in light of the accusation.

"All the public sees on that database is a two-dimensional picture," he said. "There are some very, very bad people on there indeed. But there are other people who are not so bad and everything in between. They know nothing about these people."

Johnson also said that he appreciates the district attorney's office pursuing the case with due diligence.

"I can only hope for the best as a result," he said.