Phoenix police release 1996 recording of Kevin Johnson phone call to teenage accuser
Phoenix police recorded this telephone call between Amanda Koba, then 16, and Kevin Johnson, at the time a 30-year-old basketball player for the Phoenix Suns. The Sacramento Bee in November 2015 obtained the audio after filing a public records request with the Phoenix Police Department. Police redacted the audio file, recorded the evening of July 23, 1996, to exclude portions in which Koba and Johnson discussed specific allegations of sexual acts, though those parts of the conversation appear on a transcript obtained earlier by The Bee. The call came four days after Koba, in an interview with a Phoenix police detective, accused Johnson of molesting her. Johnson was never charged and has denied the allegations. This is the first time the audio file has been made public. The Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee has obtained a recording of a 1996 telephone conversation between Mayor Kevin Johnson and the teenage girl who accused him of molestation in Phoenix nearly two decades ago.
The July 23, 1996, conversation between Amanda Koba and Johnson was recorded by Phoenix police as part of their investigation into Koba’s claim that Johnson molested her at his home. Johnson has repeatedly denied the allegations and Phoenix prosecutors did not file charges against him.
Redacted audio files of the telephone conversation were provided Monday by the Phoenix Police Department in response to a public records request The Sacramento Bee made last month. It is the first time the audio file has been made public.
The Bee filed its request after the website Deadspin posted a video recording of Koba being interviewed by a Phoenix police detective on July 19, 1996. The Bee on Monday also received a heavily redacted version of that video with Koba’s face blurred out, unlike the Deadspin version. Koba, now 36, confirmed to Deadspin in September that she was the teen who told Phoenix police Johnson had molested her.
Police redacted the audio and video files to exclude specific allegations of sexual acts, though those parts of the conversation appear on a transcript obtained by The Bee in 2008 when Johnson ran for mayor.
“The facts today remain the same as they did almost 20 years ago,” said Johnson spokesman Ben Sosenko in a statement. “Law enforcement had this material, investigated and did not pursue the matter. No video nor audio from two decades ago will change that.”
Koba declined to comment on the recording when reached Monday via an email address listed on her website.
The 1996 phone call came four days after Koba met with the police detective in the videotaped interview, according to the transcript. It was set up by police as a “confrontation call,” an opportunity for detectives to have Johnson confirm Koba’s allegations on tape.
Koba had left messages for Johnson earlier in the day, and Johnson called her back at approximately 6:08 p.m. at a number Koba gave for a phone in a Phoenix Police Department interview room, according to the transcript.
Early in the 39 minutes of audio provided by police, Johnson tells Koba, “I miss you bad.” Johnson asks Koba what she’s told her therapist about what happened between them. “I haven’t told her anything because I pinky promised I wouldn’t,” Koba says.
Johnson says he and Koba had a hug that was “more intimate than it should have been.” He also tells Koba that “I apologize again to you for using bad judgment.” But he disputes herPhoenix police release 1996 recording of Kevin Johnson phone call to teenage accuser | The Sacramento Bee:
