Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Man guilty for posing as trooper

By Diana Hefley
Herald Writer

 ARLINGTON -- A long-haul truck driver who posed as a Washington State Patrol trooper turned to prescription painkillers after the sudden death of his 16-year-old son to an illness and a traffic accident that left him with an injured hand.

Ronald Johnson on Tuesday learned he will spend the next 16 months in prison for stealing, lying and defrauding people, all to feed his addiction to OxyContin, a strong prescription narcotic.

Johnson, 50, admitted he posed as a trooper and committed fraud to get drugs. He pleaded guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court to two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of criminal impersonation. A jury earlier this month found him guilty of second- degree theft for stealing from an Arlington pharmacy.

Prosecutors say Johnson wore a police badge and put a badge on his German shepherd's harness to help him get painkillers from doctors. He gave out fake addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers, prosecutors said.

Arlington police arrested him twice in May after he posed as a trooper to get drugs and to stay at a discounted rate at an Arlington motel. Bothell police began investigating him last year after learning he tried to get a prescription from a medical clinic while wearing a Washington State Patrol jacket. Officials learned he was banned from other clinics in Idaho and Washington for so-called drug shopping, where people go to multiple doctors in search of narcotics, court documents said.

Johnson also is wanted by authorities in Kentucky for other crimes, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Edirin Okoloko said.

Johnson didn't have any criminal history before his son's death about three years ago to an infection, his attorney Cassandra Lopez de Arriaga said. Before then, he was a volunteer firefighter and sometimes worked as a funeral escort, in conjunction with the Washington State Patrol.

"Mr. Johnson is a good man. He is a good man dealing with a lot of pain," she said. "He has fallen down."

Her client will seek drug treatment and hopefully find a different way to deal with his pain, Lopez de Arriaga said.

Judge Linda Krese said she recognized there were unfortunate circumstances that likely led to Johnson's downfall and his criminal activities.

"Given his age and his lack of prior convictions, it's apparent something happened to change his life in the last few years," Krese said.

She ordered Johnson to seek drug treatment.



Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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