(WWJ) – An Indianapolis man has been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for two cases in which he used a dating app to target the LGBTQ community in Detroit, including the murder of a gay man in September 2020.
Diabolique Paris Johnson was sentenced in Wayne County Circuit Court on Wednesday to 25-45 years for the murder of 39-year-old Joshua J. Smelser on Sept. 5, 2020. He was also sentenced to 15-30 years for an armed robbery at a Detroit motel four days earlier.
Johnson was initially charged last March, a couple months after he was arrested in Indianapolis in December 2020 following a months-long investigation.
Johnson's attorney said his client pleaded guilty to the charges and took responsibility for his actions, which prosecutors say targeted the LGBTQ community.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges Wednesday in conjunction with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and Fair Michigan Justice Project (FMJP), which assists Michigan law enforcement officers and prosecutors in solving serious crimes against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people.
Authorities say on Sept. 1, 2020 Johnson committed an armed robbery of a 26-year-old Detroit man at a hotel on Michigan Avenue that he’d met through a dating app.
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Johnson was not in custody when he was charged with one count of armed robbery on Sept. 21, 2020.
Four days later, officials say, he met up with another man he’d met through the app in the 16800 block of Woodbine in Detroit murdered him during an armed robbery.
For the next three months, police officers from Dearborn, Detroit, and Indianapolis conducted an investigation that led to Johnson’s arrest in Indianapolis.
“I am proud to partner with Prosecutor Worthy and Fair Michigan to deliver justice for vulnerable populations that find themselves the target of bias-motivated crimes,” Nessel said, per a press release. “Hate crimes threaten entire communities and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said it’s “important to continue to acknowledge that crimes against the LBGTQ community are ignored and are not thoroughly investigated.”
“This is no longer the case in Wayne County thanks to our partnership formed in 2016 with Fair Michigan Justice Project (FMJP),” she said.
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