LAKE HAVASU CITY – Former Lake Havasu City police detective John Hickey Johnson is a wanted man more than a decade after allegedly stealing undercover investigation funds and committing evidence room crimes. Johnson was the focus of an internal criminal police investigation from April through Oct., 2013.
Johnson was a 16-year veteran when he resigned from the police department and relocated to Charleston, Massachusetts. He was formally charged with 48 felony offenses including forgery, theft and fraud in April 2016.
Known as “JJ” in the community, Johnson was accused of removing illegal drugs from the police department evidence room and was suspected of stealing nearly $5,000 of undercover investigation funds.
“It’s embarrassing to the department and a betrayal to the community,” now retired former Police Chief Dan Doyle said seven years ago. A Mohave County Attorney’s Office memo at the same time indicated a number of criminal cases were compromised because Johnson allegedly removed drug-based evidence associated with 11 investigations between 2010 and 2012.
“No one was charged in six of those investigations,” the memo said. “Charges were filed against eight people in the other five investigations. Only three of those people were ever convicted.”
Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith handed the case off to Yavapai County, declaring a conflict because the local office working relationship with Lake Havasu police and detective Johnson. The case, with its long-distance defendant has dragged on for years, but no hearing has been held since May 28, 2019.
Johnson’s former defense counsel withdrew seven months later and the case is essentially dormant.
The Yavapai County Attorney’s office declined comment regarding whether a warrant has issued and whether anyone is looking for Johnson. Local court records reveal a warrant for Johnson’s arrest was issued in Feb., 2020.
