An Essex County man accused of luring three Atlantic City teens into his car tried to explain his true intentions Friday.
Yusuf Laki Johnson, 51, said he works with troubled youths as part of Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention, and was drawn to the teens after they asked for a light to smoke weed.
“I sat and talked to them for about 20 minutes, telling them not to do hard drugs, not to do cocaine, not to do dope or whatever,” he told the judge during his detention hearing.
Defendants are discouraged from speaking about their case at the hearings, which determine whether they are held or released as part of bail reform.
But, despite his defense attorney’s advice, Johnson said he needed to speak out.
His explanation via video from the county jail came after Judge Todd Miller had already decided to detain him.
Johnson allegedly tried to get the girl to stay and go with him to find an address on the Boardwalk.
Instead, the three were able to walk away, after taking a picture of Johnson inside his car along with a photo of his license plate.
Johnson said if he had “foul intent,” he would not have taken the teens around the block from where he picked them up. He said they willingly got in the car, and he spoke with one about their shared Muslim faith.
“I work with kids every day,” he said, adding that he would hurt anyone he thought would do something to a child. “These are the foulest allegations ever.”
The judge said some of what Johnson said could be true, but that he had no business taking children children he didn’t know in his car, and that he couldn’t release him on a child luring charge.
“I hear the defendant and what he says had some common sense to it from his vantage point,” Miller said. “But I’m not buying it at this point in time.”
Johnson has a significant criminal history but pointed out that he has been law-abiding since his release from prison eight years ago.
