Sex offender beats neighbor, 81, unconscious, dislocating her jaw, after she wakes up to him inside her NYC apartment

A Brooklyn sex offender beat his 81-year-old neighbor unconscious, dislocating her jaw, after the victim woke up to him inside her apartment, police said Wednesday.

Thomas Johnson, 50, is charged with assault, strangulation and burglary — and could face more charges, given that the victim was not fully clothed when she was rushed to the hospital from her apartment on Dean St. in Brownsville, police said.

The “despicable” attack unfolded about 1 a.m. Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said, with the victim waking up when she heard noises and then finding her upstairs neighbor in her living room.

“[He] began to choke and punch her,” Essig said. “She lost consciousness.”

John has nine prior arrests, the most recent for strangulation in August 2021.

In August 2006 he was arrested for sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl. The victim, according to records, was a girl known to him. Johnson plead to misdemeanor sex abuse and spent a year behind bars, records show.

Johnson was busted for attempted murder in June 1995, Essing said, but plead to assault. Records indicate he spent three years in prison on that conviction.

He also spent almost three years behind bars for a stolen property conviction, ending with his parole in November 1994, and two years in prison for attempted assault, ending with his conditional release in January 2006.

His longest sentence was for an assault conviction in 2007. He was sentenced to seven years, though he served time beyond that and was released in August 2018.

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