A Treasure Coast couple was supposed to be raising her and protecting her, but instead they forced the teen to be their sex slave.
On Monday, in a Port St. Lucie park, the now 22-year-old woman recounted the nightmare.
“He believed that I belonged to him,” she said.
The woman, whose identity we’re protecting, said her ordeal began nine years ago. “When they sat me down and asked me to have sex with them, it basically changed everything.”
The young woman's mother had died, and at 13, she came to live at a home in Port St. Lucie with Rob and Marie Johnson. Rob was related to the woman’s mother, and it didn’t take long for the situation to become a nightmare.
“She (Marie) pinned me up against the wall and said ‘You need to make this decision or you can go to state care.' "
The woman said for the next five years, she was subject to constant sexual abuse. She was to refer to Rob Johnson as "master." The couple had two other children at the time.
During the day, things would be normal, the woman said. But what went on behind closed doors was not.
“I didn’t have an outlet to reach out to go to to try and get away or help myself. I had no one. I was there because I had no one.”
Turning 18, she finally got out of her situation. Then two years ago, and now living in the Midwest, she overcame her fear and went to police.
“It’s so much more helpful than sitting back and pretending it didn’t happen. That’s what I did and that’s my goal. To not be afraid and to be open about it.”
In March, a judge sentenced Rob Johnson to 87 consecutive life terms on his sexual battery convictions.
Marie Johnson was supposed to be sentenced Monday, but there was a last-minute change.
Sentencing will now take place Friday. The victim was going to speak in person at the sentencing, but will still share her message.
“She was an adult. She could have stopped it. She had kids of her own. I was somebody’s child. I may not have been her child, but I was somebody’s child.”