“APD COLD CASE UNIT”

DECEMBER 13, 2002

• On Dec. 13, 2002, Willick appointed former PCSO Reserve Deputy Jerry Johnson and retired PCSO Deputy David Milam. 

• Both men approached Willick to work on this specific case as unpaid volunteers, appointed as APD reserve officers.  Dave Milam, already in ailing health at this point, died shortly after his APD appointment and there no records or reports documenting his involvement. 

•The “homicide cases” the prosecutor provided, that she claimed Johnson worked, were nothing more than scenes to which he responded while on patrol. In each case Johnson was quickly asked by investigators to stand outside, and control access. He was never involved with a homicide beyond simply arriving, and securing the site. 

As a reserve officer for PCSO, Jerry Johnson had an extensive documented history of misconduct, and a grudge against Paul Kovacich:

• In 1980, Placer County was sued for Johnson’s excessive use of force during a traffic stop. Exiting his patrol car with weapon drawn, Johnson then struck the occupants with his billy club while they were lying on the ground.

•In May 1980, Johnson requested that he and his dog Grizzly be allowed to serve in the PCSO K-9 unit, commanded by Paul Kovacich. The request was denied. Paul felt that neither Johnson nor Grizzly had the training and temperament necessary for the program, and having a reserve officer sending out an attack dog against citizens could create liability for PCSO and the county. Johnson appealed to the DA, and Paul was eventually forced to allow Johnson and Grizzly to patrol together. As Paul predicted, the team immediately generated excessive force complaints. 

• May of 1982, Johnson, believing that a citizen had damaged a gate on his property, entered the citizen's property and home and confronted him. He did not have a warrant, or properly identify himself as a member of law enforcement conducting an investigation. Johnson attempted a “citizen’s arrest” of the man in the man’s own home, which resulted in a complaint of assault and false arrest against Johnson.

• In November of 1982, while serving as a reserve officer for PCSO, Deputy Johnson was given a notice of disciplinary action following a series of illegal (and highly threatening) traffic stops.

-The most serious of the improper traffic stops involved two Japanese diplomats, which triggered an investigation by the US Marshals. PCSO Sheriff Nunes wrote apology letters to the embassy and the individuals. Nunes assured them that the deputy (Johnson) no longer had police powers.

-Three other traffic stops involved attempts by Johnson to collect cash that he believed that he was owed by a man named Strange for pasture grazing fees. Twice, he executed illegal traffic stops on Strange in an attempt to collect the “debt.” During the first stop Strange gave Johnson $100 cash to escape arrest, and the second time, when Strange said that he had no cash, Johnson falsely arrested him for having empty beer cans in the bed of his truck (which was dismissed). Johnson also pulled over Strange’s ex-wife and stepson with no legal basis and threatened to arrest them if Strange didn't pay the money “owed.” After the Strange family filed complaints with PCSO, Johnson engaged in incidents of stalking, harassment, and personal threats against the complainants. Johnson went to Strange’s house twice and forced him to draft statements to withdraw his prior complaints under threat that future action would put Strange's step-son in jail.

• These incidents, and the resulting disciplinary notice, led to Johnson’s voluntary resignation from PCSO on December 1, 1982. 

• In 1987, Jerry Johnson filed a law suit against Paul Kovacich alleging that Paul owed Johnson $1,500 for unpaid cattle grazing fees. Johnson was initially awarded $600. Johnson appealed to Superior Court Judge Garbolino, and the award was increased to $720 plus costs--leaving Johnson still claiming that Paul had “cheated him.”

• In 1985, Jerry Johnson filed a federal civil suit  against Placer County. While the settlement itself was public record, the amount of damages paid to Johnson (about $25,000) were alleged to be confidential, but leaked to the press in July of 1987. 

• It was revealed that the county had spent $100,000 to defend the civil suit. When the terms were released to the press, that caused an entirely new claim to follow: 

•  Johnson returned to PCSO as an “extra help” reserve deputy in the 1990s, but that ended in 1997.  

• In June of 2000, following Johnson’s pressure on former supervisors to provide him with a retired peace officer card (frequently noted by officers as entitlement to concealed carry and a “get out of speeding ticket card”), Johnson sued the Sheriff to get the card that the county said he had not earned.

•The PCSO investigator assigned to review Johnson's claim described his 1996-97 period of service as an “ ‘extra help’ contract employee for a limited time,” noting that Johnson was never a regularly employed deputy with the department, and that he did not “retire” in 1997. 

•Johnson had misrepresented his status to the court. He was not a “top step Level I” reserve officer as he stated in his complaint–instead, he was actually a “non-designated” reserve officer. (The difference is having the full power and duties of a police officer 24/7 vs. a short term assignment to specific police functions without the ability to carry a weapon or have police powers off duty.)

-Johnson was hundreds of hours short of the current class and training requirements for a Level I, but was grandfathered back into the department in 1996 under the pre-1981 rules. He didn't even have the hours to qualify for a Level II status. (Johnson’s actual hours would require him to be supervised on duty, and limited to support functions like traffic/parking control— not homicide investigations).

•In June of 2002, Judge Kearney ruled that: “Petitioner is not an 'honorably retired peace officer' within the meaning of Penal Code §12071.1 and therefore is not entitled to the CCW endorsement.”

•Shortly after the adverse ruling in the concealed carry lawsuit, Jerry Johnson was appointed to serve as a reserve officer with Auburn Police Department by Chief Nick Willick.