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DA refiles charges against former officer
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The Allegheny County district attorney's office on Tuesday refiled charges against a former Pittsburgh police officer accused of running a prostitution service.
Michael Johns, 45, of Brookline, was initially charged in August with nine counts of crimes including promoting prostitution, obstructing justice and drug possession with intent to deliver. Detectives said he helped prostitutes obtain heroin, provided them transportation and let them use a computer in his Brookline home to post online ads to adult websites.
Prosecutors withdrew six of the nine charges at a preliminary hearing in October.
Based on the rules of criminal procedure, Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara would not allow prosecutors to refile the charges before a trial scheduled Monday. So they declined to prosecute the case, and then refiled the charges again on Tuesday.
Allegheny County police also added two new drug-related charges, because narcotics detectives found heroin in his apartment on the day of his arrest, according to a criminal complaint. They also found the identification of a man whom he had arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and public intoxication in 2008. Mr. Johns had written in the man's criminal complaint that he did not have identification on him so he opted against writing a summons, police wrote in a complaint against Mr. Johns.
He resigned from the Pittsburgh force in September.
First Published July 18, 2012 12:00 am
