ALEXANDRIA, VA – A former U.S. Army private was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison for two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of sexual abuse stemming from incidents that occurred in 2012 and 2013 while he was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Austin Blair Johnson, 35, pleaded guilty earlier this year. The federal sentence will be served consecutively to a separate 15-year state sentence he is already serving in Montana for a 2017 conviction involving the assault of his six-week-old son.
Infant Abuse on Fort Belvoir
According to court documents, on June 24, 2012, Johnson was caring for his 15-day-old daughter—born prematurely—when he forcefully shook her and then let go, causing her to fall and land on her head. He carried the infant to a bedroom where he woke her mother and claimed he had accidentally dropped the child but had broken her fall with his foot.
The infant was taken to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, where medical personnel observed bruising, a fever, and blood in her mouth. A CT scan revealed a skull fracture, and the child was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Walter Reed Medical Center, where she remained hospitalized for 10 days.
Shortly after her release, on July 4, 2012, the infant was again left in Johnson’s care. According to the plea agreement, he again shook and dropped her. The following day, during a scheduled pediatric follow-up, the child began experiencing seizures. She was taken back to the emergency room and later transferred to Children’s National Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed her with a second skull fracture and extensive brain damage.
The child was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services following the incident and remained there for approximately 14 months. She was later returned to the custody of Johnson and her mother.
On June 22, 2015, shortly after the child’s third birthday, she underwent a hemispherectomy, a surgery in which the entire left hemisphere of her brain was removed in an attempt to manage seizures. As a result of her injuries, she is now legally blind, non-verbal, and paralyzed on the right side of her body. Cognitively, she functions at the level of a mature infant.
As part of the federal sentence, Johnson was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution.
2013 Sexual Assault
In a separate incident in 2013, Johnson sexually assaulted his then-wife, the mother of the infant, at their Fort Belvoir residence. According to court documents, after she declined Johnson’s advances, he proceeded without her consent. She attempted to resist physically, at which point Johnson eventually stopped.
Prior Montana Conviction
In 2017, Johnson was convicted in Montana for violently shaking his five-week-old son, who sustained permanent brain damage.
That incident occurred while Johnson was living with a new wife, who was unaware of his past conduct.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to felony assault on a minor after admitting to shaking his son out of frustration because the he was crying. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that offense on March 1, 2018.
Delayed Federal Indictment
Although the original incidents at Fort Belvoir occurred in 2012 and 2013, Johnson was not indicted federally until July 2024, more than 11 years later. He pleaded guilty in May 2025.
It remains unclear whether Johnson was ever investigated or disciplined by the U.S. Army at the time. No record of a court-martial or military prosecution has been made public. The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division did not return a request for comment by press time.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, and prosecuted by the Eastern District of Virginia.
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