Sex offender who bonded out of jail arrested again in Wichita rape and kidnapping case

A registered sex offender who was released from jail on bond in a rape case as the coronavirus pandemic hit Kansas has been arrested again in another rape case, Wichita police said.

Darrius Jerel Johnson, 34, of Wichita, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of rape and aggravated kidnapping, WPD Officer Paul Cruz said Sunday in a news release.

Wichita police were called at around 7 p.m. Sept. 22 to a sexual assault in the 800 block of South Sylvan. A 48-year-old woman told officers that she had been “walking in the area of Lincoln and Oliver when Johnson approached and grabbed her, forcing her into his Toyota Camry,” Cruz said.

Johnson drove to another location, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. He then drove the victim back to the area where she was allegedly kidnapped. The investigation and examination of evidence led to Johnson’s arrest nine days later in the 2100 block of South White Oak, Cruz said.

He has not been formally charged in the case. He remains in the custody of the Sedgwick County Jail.

Johnson is listed on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation sex offender registry for a 2008 Riley County case of attempted aggravated sexual battery where the victim was overcome by force or fear.

Sedgwick County District Court records show Johnson is charged in a separate sex crime case with two counts of rape, attempted rape and attempted criminal sodomy in connection to an incident on Dec. 16, 2018. He was arrested in that case after his DNA was found in a sexual assault exam and the victim described one of his tattoos.

He was released on a $200,000 bond in March after his public defender argued that he was at a greater risk of getting “very sick” from COVID-19 in the jail. He had previously had his bond revoked after testing positive for cocaine. It is unclear what role — if any — the coronavirus pandemic had in his release.