PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County sheriff doubts that a jail inmate who told a judge Monday that he has terminal cancer is actually ill.
Sheriff Bill Benedict said Tuesday that convicted child rapist Kenneth S. “Tiny” Johnson, 35, has “repeatedly made that claim” but that the sheriff is not aware of any such cancer diagnosis.
Johnson was arrested early Saturday morning after a high-speed two-county chase that ended in Discovery Bay.
The level three sex offender had allegedly failed to register a change of address from a Sequim residence and led authorities on a 25-mile car chase that began in a Sequim neighborhood.
Johnson was charged Monday with single counts of first-degree robbery and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, and two felony counts of second-degree theft of a motor vehicle.
He was being held Tuesday on $150,000 bond. He will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Friday in Superior Court.
Johnson has past convictions of first-degree child molestation and third-degree rape of a child, court papers said.
In his initial court appearance Monday, Johnson told Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer that he is dying of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that develops from cells in the body’s immune system, and that he has six months to live.
The sheriff said Johnson has claimed to have cancer when he was booked into the county jail for various offenses over the past five years.
Benedict said Johnson has never been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“To my knowledge, he has never been diagnosed with that in the jail or out of the jail,” Benedict said.
Johnson will meet with a health care practitioner as part of the normal jail intake process.
If it is determined that further medical tests are needed, he will be seen by an appropriately qualified physician, Benedict said.
Cancer patients who serve time in the 120-bed jail are treated at Olympic Medical Center in the custody of armed officers.
The charges filed Monday are connected to a Saturday car chase from Sequim to Discovery Bay.
Johnson allegedly slipped into the driver’s seat of a Subaru Legacy as the driver was being questioned outside the vehicle and sped away at about 1:11 a.m. Saturday, court papers said.
Sheriff’s deputies said Johnson reached speeds of 80 mph in the stolen Subaru in a 30 mph zone on Brown Road.
“Johnson drove the vehicle with willful and wanton disregard for others’ safety,” Deputy Mark Millet wrote in the arrest narrative.
Johnson allegedly failed to stop at seven stops signs, drove the wrong way through the roundabout at Sequim-Dungeness Way and Port Williams Road, and traveled in the wrong lane “several times” on Washington Street, Millet said.
Deputies allege that Johnson exited the vehicle at Maple Street and South Sequim Avenue, pointed a shotgun at the driver of a Mazda Miata, pulled the driver out of the car and led authorities eastbound on U.S. Highway 101.
After Johnson drove over two spike strips that did not stop the Mazda, an officer bumped the rear corner of the car Johnson was driving, causing it to spin and come to a rest.
Johnson was treated at OMC for a cut to his forehead before he was booked into the jail at 5:51 a.m.
He has pending cases in Clallam County District Court and five prior felonies, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin said at Johnson’s bond hearing.
Johnson’s driver’s license was suspended Nov. 29 for child support enforcement, court papers said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
