Former Donora police officer waives heroin theft case
MONONGAHELA – A former part-time Donora police officer waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday on charges he stole 133 stamp bags of heroin that was seized in a drug raid and stored in the patrol room while he was working in August.
The charges against James Bowman Johnson V, 29, of 2202 Walch St., Carroll Township, will proceed to Washington County Court after he appeared before District Judge Mark Wilson in Monongahela, online court records show.
State police accuse Johnson of slipping the drugs under his bulletproof vest Aug. 11 and placing them into his patrol bag and then his personal vehicle a day after they were seized in an unrelated investigation.
The department’s surveillance video revealed that Johnson was the only person who handled and examined the evidence while he worked a 3 to 11 p.m. shift, court records allege.
Johnson, who was arrested Jan. 10, is charged with stealing 133 stamp bags of heroin from a police station by misrepresentation, drug possession, theft, obstruction of the administration of law, misapplication of property entrusted to a government and tampering with evidence.
He is free on $25,000 and scheduled to appear in Washington County Court for his formal arraignment at 11 a.m. April 21.