A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for attacking an Arizona Department of Child Safety caseworker in Mesa.

Deandre Johnson met the victim in November 2024 in the lobby of a building in Mesa where the DCS has offices, according to a release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

“Johnson was angry with the caseworker for interviewing his daughter alone in a room during an investigation,” the release stated.

 The caseworker got up and started walking away after the discussion ended, and Johnson came up behind him and used both arms to put him in a chokehold while repeatedly telling the victim he was a “dead man,” according to the release.

The defendant kept the victim in a chokehold for more than two minutes, and the caseworker lost consciousness.

“Johnson dropped the caseworker’s limp body on the floor but started choking the victim again after realizing he was still breathing,” authorities said in the release.

Throughout the attack, witnesses tried to get Johnson to stop. After letting the victim go, Johnson tried to intimidate the witnesses. He then left and was arrested hours later by Mesa police after a pursuit.

Johnson livestreamed the entire interaction with the caseworker — including the attack — on Facebook.

A jury convicted Johnson of one count of attempt to commit first-degree murder, four misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and one count of unlawful flight from law enforcement.

“It’s not just the violence of this crime, but that he livestreamed it for the world to see, that makes it so alarming,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in the release.

“There is no justification for this defendant’s ambush attack on someone who was simply doing his job to protect kids.”

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