Naman Shrestha
Paramount+’s ‘Don’t Date Brandon’ is a three-part true crime documentary series that chronicles the deceit and crimes of a tech-savant named Brandon Johnson, who pretends to be the ideal partner, only to show his true colors a while into the relationship. When he reportedly harassed his two ex-wives, Athena Klingerman and Amber Rasmussen, with his controlling, manipulative, and stalking behavior, they joined forces to take him down for good. Many of his ex-partners feature in the docuseries, where they talk about his wrongdoings in detail.
Brandon Johnson Had a History of Multiple Protective Orders Filed Against Him
Born in the late 1970s to Barbara Tolomei, Brandon Robert Johnson was reportedly only 19 years old when a woman filed a restraining order against him in 1997. In the following years, he continued exhibiting the same kind of behavior towards women and accumulated more than 17 protective orders against him. Signs of him being controlling towards his partners were already evident during his teenage years, when he began a relationship with Kelly in 1992. While studying at Aberdeen High School together, their relationship deteriorated as he allegedly became overly possessive of her. Several years later, in 2006, he dated a woman named Dee. After things went sour between them, she severed ties with him.
As per Dee’s accounts, he then started stalking her and showing up to her workplace, bars she frequented, and even her house. He also allegedly created a huge scene at a bar when she was on a date with her new boyfriend. A while later, Brandon met his first wife, Athena Klingerman, whom he began dating in 2007. Not long after, he moved in with her, and they gave birth to a daughter named Sydney. A few years later, in July 2011, the two tied the knot and started a new chapter in their lives. However, their marriage got rocky quickly, as Brandon reportedly mistreated Athena’s first daughter, Lexus, from a previous relationship. His wife found out that he was allegedly cheating on her, after which she tried to end the marriage.
In response, according to her, he refused to move out of the house and threatened to take his own life if she didn’t take him back. Not only that, he also allegedly began stalking her everywhere. Eventually, they got divorced in 2012. Meanwhile, it is alleged that Brandon told their daughter, Sydney, that Athena was the one who cheated on him, affecting the relationship between the mother and daughter. A year after the divorce, in 2013, Brandon met the then 35-year-old Amber Rasmussen on an online dating app. After talking online for about a month or so, they met in person at a bar in Seattle, Washington, where Brandon used to live at the time. Six weeks into their relationship, he proposed to her, and they got engaged. In May 2017, they got married.
Brandon Johnson Was Arrested After Trying to Harm One of His Former Girlfriends
Soon, Brandon, who also worked as a recruiter at HTC, claimed that he began working for Nike. In the meantime, he also maintained contact with Athena on the family application that he used for scheduling the shared custody of their daughter. When things between him and Amber began deteriorating, he also told her that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. However, he didn’t allow her to accompany him during his alleged hospital visits. Eventually, Amber found out that he had been talking to other women on an online dating app and also posing as Athena on the family app and having conversations with himself, pitting her against his ex-wife. When Amber reached out to Athena, they uncovered many of his alleged lies. On Valentine’s Day 2019, when Amber told him that she wanted to get a divorce, he reportedly threatened to kill Athena and himself if she left.
He was arrested and charged with unlawful imprisonment and threatening to kill his first wife. By that time, Amber had parted ways with him officially. Later, he was ordered to have no contact with his ex-wives, Athena and Amber, for five years. The two women also began a podcast, ‘Ex-Wives Undercover,’ to raise awareness about Brandon’s lies and deceit. Despite his best attempts to shut down their podcast, the two women continued releasing new episodes. Meanwhile, he began dating a woman named Rachel in March 2021 in El Dorado Hills, California. When she broke up with him, he put GPS trackers on her car to stalk her. When she found out, she installed cameras in and around the property. In February 2022, he received yet another protective order that demanded that he not contact Rachel.
However, the following month, he reportedly violated the protective order and not only threatened her but also reportedly sexually assaulted her after breaking into her house in the middle of the night. On March 11, 2022, when he broke into her house in El Dorado Hills, Rachel was hanging out in her bedroom with a friend named Austin. He attacked the two with a taser and a knife, telling Austin that “I’m going to blow your f—ing head off, I’m going to kill you. Don’t you reach for your phone.” However, Austin managed to subdue him while Rachel called the authorities. He tried to run away from the police while they were putting cuffs on him, but he was eventually arrested after being tased. Upon searching his vehicle, the authorities found several tools necessary for kidnapping, including handcuffs. They also found duct tape inside his jacket.
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Brandon Johnson is Currently Incarcerated in a California Prison Facility
While behind bars, Brandon filed paperwork claiming that Athena Klingerman owed him child support. Besides his stalking, Brandon’s embezzlement of money from his former employer, HTC, also surfaced. Several months after his arrest, in January 2023, Brandon pleaded no contest to charges of attempted kidnapping with intent to commit rape and assault with a deadly weapon. The following month, he was reportedly sentenced to ten years in prison.
In addition, he also pleaded guilty to ten counts of attempted theft in the first degree after being charged with stealing from HTC. For that crime, Brandon was sentenced to 36 months in prison, which would run concurrently with the ten-year term. Moreover, a part of his plea deal also included him agreeing to lifetime registration on the California sex offender registry. As of today, the 47-year-old convict is serving his sentence at Avenal State Prison in Avenal, California, with his parole eligibility scheduled for May 2027.
