Danny Ray Johnson (October 18, 1960 – December 13, 2017) was an American religious leader and politician whose many extravagant biographical claims were refuted in an exposé released two days before his suicide.

With Johnson as its bishop, Heart of Fire eschewed the trappings of traditional Christian churches, and instead at times featured toplessness, cigarette smoking, underage drinking, anti-Islamism, and a tattoo parlor.

In the 2010s, Johnson became politically active, and despite a controversial campaign that included his own party leadership requesting his withdrawal, he was elected as a Republican to the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 49th District.

After eleven months and nine days in office, an exposé by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting was publicly released; it included many refutations of Johnson's self-described biography, as well as details of a 2013 child sexual abuse allegation.

[2] Johnson claimed to have seen the crash of United Airlines Flight 175 from his New Yorker Hotel room, a feat NBC News called unlikely for being in Midtown Manhattan, three miles (4.8 km) away from the towers.

[2] After graduating high school at age 17, Johnson left Bastrop to work with the McKeithens—a Christian missions group based out of Nashville, Tennessee—for two years.

Racism, toplessness, cigarette smoking, underage drinking, Islamophobia, and a tattoo parlor were all reported phenomena at Johnson's Heart of Fire Church throughout the years.

Heart of Fire secretary and parishioner Michelle Cook explained how Johnson committed insurance fraud against Brotherhood Mutual to make money for himself.

In the 1990s, the Clinton administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began offering loan guarantees to rebuild black churches that were victims of arson.

In 2003, Heart of Fire received the third-largest of these federal loans for $1.5 million (equivalent to about $2M in 2023); the church used the money to buy the chancel it was leasing, and build a new fellowship hall-cum-bar.

Heart of Fire was scheduled to hold a May 20, 2018 auction ("antiques, appliances, furniture, Harley Davidson parts and commercial kitchen equipment"), the purpose of which was described to WDRB by Pastor Rebecca Johnson as:[13]In 2000 our church was arsoned.

[2] Richmond told the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) that she was raped by Johnson 15 days after her 17th birthday (the night of December 31, 2012);[14] she had been staying with his daughter in the apartment under the fellowship hall.

The following day, the two exchanged messages over Facebook:[2] [Johnson's daughter] Sarah said I was mean to Bo You and Her by telling you all to go to bed so sorry don’t remember I was told we all got drugged at TK’s anyway so sorry if I sounded mean, you know you are one of my favorites, love you sorry!

And there is no point in responding to this message either because I don’t want to talk about it ever again.Richmond and her parents went to the police in April 2013, but after failing to secretly record a confession from Johnson, the case was closed with no charges filed.

Richmond saw a mental health professional the summer of 2013, and presented her "psychosocial assessment, notes and progress reports" to the KyCIR in 2017; the onetime honors student and drum major at Louisville Male High School had exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

After the KyCIR began investigating Johnson, the Louisville Metro Police Department reached out to Richmond and reopened the case at her request, but had made no actions as of five months later.

Also during his campaign, Johnson made several Facebook posts that racially-targeted the family of Barack Obama, and then refused to withdraw from the race even at the request of the Republican Party of Kentucky.

One such proposal would have forced public universities to allow the promulgation of speech that is "offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrongheaded".

The Republican governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, called Johnson "an embarrassment", while the Democratic mayor of Louisville Metro initiated a review of Richmond's 2013 allegations.

[2] Johnson held a press conference two days later at Heart of Fire Church where he denied the accusations of sexual assault,[22] instead saying that Richmond's claims stemmed from their political differences.

[24] After pinging the assemblyman's phone, police found his body on the north bank of the Salt River in Mount Washington, Kentucky; standing by his car at the nearby bridge, he had shot himself in the head[25] with a .40-caliber pistol.

[27] Nominated by the Bullitt County Republican Party, Rebecca Johnson sought election to her husband's position as state representative from the 49th District.

[28] Of the 4947 votes cast in the February 20, 2018 special election, Democrat Linda H. Belcher received 68.45 percent;[29] Johnson blamed electoral fraud for her loss.