Man kept posing as cop to get drugs, police say

The Arlington pharmacy cashier had every reason to believe the man standing at the counter was a cop.

He wore a navy-blue nylon jacket with what appeared to be a State Patrol patch on the chest. At his side was a German shepherd who wore a harness and a vest with a star-shaped badge.

The cashier later told police that the uniform and apparent police K-9 put her at ease, so much so that she let the man walk out of the store with $400 worth of OxyContin while he ostensibly went to retrieve cash from his car. When he didn't return, she called police.

That 911 call in October touched off a months-long investigation that led to the arrest last week of Ronald R. Johnson, formerly of Orting, who police say repeatedly impersonated law-enforcement officers over more than 30 years — many times to obtain OxyContin illegally.

Johnson, 50, has been charged with theft in connection with the Arlington case and is under investigation for allegedly impersonating a police officer in both Arlington and Bothell.

"There's wannabes, but this guy has taken it way off," Arlington Police Chief John Gray said Wednesday. "He has represented himself many times as a police officer, a firefighter, even a Coast Guard member."

Gray said Johnson, a former truck driver, walked into clinics and pharmacies in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Kentucky pretending to be a police officer in need of painkillers. His uniformed appearance was believed to put many people at ease, including physicians who wrote out prescriptions.

"Everyone who talked to him said this guy looks like a police officer," Gray said.

Though Johnson was first investigated for allegedly impersonating a police officer in Lynnwood in 1977, it wasn't until the incident at the Arlington Rite-Aid last fall that local police launched the investigation that led to his May 6 arrest.

In that case, the cashier said Johnson initially tried to pay for the OxyContin with a credit card, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. When the transaction failed to go through, Johnson allegedly told the cashier he would go to his car to get cash, but never returned. That failed transaction provided police with Johnson's name.

Johnson was arrested outside a Smokey Point Safeway store on a warrant stemming from the Oct. 29 theft, Gray said. Though Johnson wasn't wearing a police uniform, he did have police badges, fire department identification cards, a handcuff key and OxyContin on him, Gray said.

Gray said police are looking for Johnson's dog, a German shepherd named Sweetie.

"It is so shocking and disappointing because law enforcement works so hard every day to maintain the public's trust," Gray said. "Then you have a person who uses that trust for their own selfish addiction, and that diminishes that trust."

Johnson was recently released on bail from the Snohomish County Jail, Gray said. He said Johnson has been charged with second-degree theft, a felony, because it carries a stiffer penalty than impersonating a police officer, which is a misdemeanor.

Police in rural north Idaho say they've known about Johnson's penchant for impersonation for years.

Shoshone County Undersheriff Mitch Alexander said Johnson had been "heavily investigated for impersonating law-enforcement officers and firefighters on several occasions," according to the affidavit for a search warrant. It's unclear how those cases were resolved.

Alexander said Johnson once owned a cafe in Wallace and carried a badge because he served as an escort for funeral processions. Idaho State Police investigated Johnson for police impersonation as well, according to State Police Sgt. Rick Field.

In August, Johnson was fired from Floyd Blinksy Trucking in Eastern Washington for unusual behavior, including telling people he was a cop, company manager Dave Brown told police.

Johnson listed the State Patrol and Orting Fire Department on his employment application and told co-workers that his dog was trained to sniff for drugs, according to the affidavit.

A spokesman for the Washington State Patrol said on Wednesday that Johnson has never worked for them.

Ten days after Johnson was fired, he walked into the Lakeshore Clinic in Bothell, dressed in a police uniform and accompanied by his dog, to get painkillers, said Bothell police Detective Sgt. Elmer Brown. When clinic staff checked a database and saw that Johnson had been banned from clinics in Idaho and Washington for "drug-shopping" — going to multiple pharmacies to get a prescription filled — they refused to fill his prescription, police said.

Gray said Arlington investigators are looking to add an additional theft charge against Johnson for what he allegedly did when he bailed out of jail following last week's arrest. Johnson checked into the Arlington Quality Inn and asked for the "law-enforcement discount." He then ran up several charges and fled the motel without paying, Gray said.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com