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Teen in kidnapping faces new charge
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- An additional charge has been filed against Johnny Lee White, the Homosassa teen accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint, after a witness told authorities the 18-year-old tried to recruit him for an armed rape. But White's father, John White, 65, said his son is innocent of all charges and is being set up by his friends. "This just absolutely did not happen the way that they said it happened," the father said. Johnny Lee White was being held Wednesday at the Citrus County Jail in lieu of $60,000 bail. He was first arrested New Year's Day, after the 14-year-old told deputies from the Citrus County Sheriff's Office that White had accosted her as she was walking along Holiday Drive in Homosassa about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 29. According to the girl's statement, White pulled her into the back seat of the car he was riding in and held the blade to her neck. He told her not to go to sleep that night because "she was going to die," according to an arrest report prepared by the Sheriff's Office. There were two other people in the car that day, according to Detective Michael Baute. Authorities are still searching for the driver and have prepared a composite sketch. Authorities are not currently seeking the driver's arrest. "Our main goal is to find him to interview him for information about the incident," Baute said. The day after White's arrest, the other passenger told investigators White had tried to persuade him to assist in an armed rape of the girl while wearing ski masks. White said he needed help holding the girl at knifepoint while he performed the rape, the witness told authorities. Baute said the masks were found during a search of White's S Alita Terrace mobile home, and a count of soliciting a person to commit a criminal act was added to White's list of charges. White refused a request to be interviewed at the jail. But his father said White was at home at the time of the alleged kidnapping. He said the 14-year-old girl set up his son out of anger when he rebuffed her advances. She told deputies she broke up with White when she found out his age. The father also said the passenger in the car, 18-year-old Walter Schneider, had an incentive to lie to authorities: He was arrested in August. "I think the police can make him say anything they want him to say," John White said. The younger White was arrested in November 1996 on a count of aggravated assault while living in Pinellas County. In March 1998, White was picked up by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office after he was accused of carrying a concealed weapon. A third charge in Pinellas came later that year, in December, when he was accused of aggravated assault. Sgt. Dave Wyllie, an investigator with the Crimes Against Children Unit, called White a "public safety risk." "Everything he was doing was leading in one direction and to one place: armed rape," Wylie said. -- Times staff researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
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