Former Donora police officer pleads in heroin theft
A former part-time Donora police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he stole more than 100 stamp bags of suspected heroin after it was seized as evidence last year.
James B. Johnson V, 30, of Walch Street in Carroll Township, entered the guilty plea before Washington County Judge Michael J. Lucas to misdemeanor charges of theft, misapplication of entrusted property, obstructing the administration of law and tampering with evidence.
Lucas scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 1, following a pre-sentencing investigation by the county Adult Probation Office.
Johnson’s attorney, D. Scott Lautner, wasn’t immediately available for comment Friday.
State police filed charges in January.
During a voluntary interview with state police Nov. 16, Johnson reportedly said he’d taken a sealed manila envelope containing 133 stamp bags of suspected heroin from a box in the patrol room, slid it under his bulletproof vest and kept the bags for personal use, according to court papers.
Members of Donora police and the Washington County Drug Task Force had seized the drugs from a vehicle Aug. 10, 2016, while executing a search warrant in the borough.
Another 237 stamp bags of suspected heroin were found in a residence during the same search. The two caches of suspected heroin were later counted at the borough police station and placed in separate sealed manila envelopes. The following morning, Chief James Brice prepared paperwork to have both envelopes transported to the state police crime lab in Greensburg, but the items weren’t transported that day because of “unforeseen police incidents,” according to court papers.
The envelopes were left in a box on a table in the patrol room. An officer who was preparing the box for transport early Aug. 12 noticed the envelope containing the 133 stamp bags missing from the box, but the other envelope and other items were still there.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed Johnson as the “only person that handled and examined items within the box of evidence numerous times while the box was placed in the patrol room”as he worked the 3 to 11 p.m. shift Aug. 11, according to court records.
Johnson had been part of the department since 2011. He is free on $25,000 bond.