COURTS

Parole absconder who stole police vehicle returned to prison

Corey Murray
cmurray@hillsdale.net
Jonah Roland Johnston, 43

HILLSDALE — An Osseo man on parole who stole a police car on Sept. 1 in the city of Hillsdale will be returned to the Michigan Department of Corrections for a term of three to five years.

Jonah Roland Johnston, 43, pleaded no contest Sept. 21 to charges of unlawfully driving away an automobile, third-degree fleeing/eluding police, malicious destruction of police property and resisting arrest in the 1st Judicial Circuit Court.

The Hillsdale County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and delivery/manufacture methamphetamine in the plea bargain which included a stipulation that Johnston would not be pursued as a habitual offender despite having been convicted previously of nine felonies and over a dozen misdemeanors.

Johnston, through his attorney Rod Dunham, pleaded for a chance to attend and complete the MDOC Special Alternative Incarceration Program (boot camp) in lieu of a prison sentence Monday morning.

“Without structure, I lose control and I end up in these types of situations,” Johnston said.

However, Judge Michael R. Smith noted the repetitive nature of Johnston’s criminal behavior which include multiple convictions for drugs, thefts and fleeing police.

Smith also noted that Johnston refused to cooperate with the MDOC probation staff for the pre-sentence interview nor did he agree to attend substance abuse counseling while on parole.

Imposing sentencing, Smith ordered that Johnston serve three to five year sentences for stealing the police vehicle and fleeing officers on Sept. 1. Johnston will serve two to four years for malicious destruction of police property and 16-24 months in prison for resisting and obstructing officers.

Johnston was not given any credit for time served since his arrest since his new sentences will run consecutive to his current parole case and he will pay $18,526 in restitution to the city of Hillsdale and its insurance company for the patrol car he totaled after stealing it Sept. 1.

In a telephone interview hours after Johnston’s arrest Sept. 1, Hillsdale City Police Chief Schott Hephner said that officers were dispatched to a report of suspicious activity at Cherry Tree Lane Apartments on the corner of Barr Street and Fayette Street in Hillsdale where they discovered Johnston and took him into custody on outstanding warrants for absconding parole, possession of methamphetamine and delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine.

Johnston was handcuffed and placed into the back of a patrol car while officers continued their investigation outside the car. Meanwhile, Johnston managed to slip his handcuffs to the front and either kicked out or punched out the plexiglass barricade giving him access to the front of the vehicle. He then took off with officers pursuing in other patrol vehicles, Hephner said.

Johnston went down Barr Street to Spring Street and turned onto Stony Ridge Court—a dead end—where he went off-road behind a home and crashed the patrol car in a wooded area. He then managed to take off on foot through the woods towards Fairview Avenue and made his way a short distance to a known associate’s home in the 100 block of Spring Street where the ordeal eventually ended.

Johnston has previous convictions for fleeing police, resisting arrest causing injury and second degree retail fraud out of Lenawee County. His parole case stemmed from a 2016 conviction for attempted breaking and entering a building in Hillsdale County to which he was sentenced to three to five years in prison on Feb. 7, 2017.