PORT ANGELES — Bond of $150,000 was set Monday for convicted child rapist Kenneth S. “Tiny” Johnson, 35, who said at a Clallam County Superior Court hearing that he is dying from cancer and has six months to live.
Single felony charges of first-degree robbery and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, and two felony counts of second degree theft-motor vehicle, were filed Monday against Johnson in Clallam County Superior Court.
The charges were connected with the early Saturday morning high-speed chase of Johnson through Sequim and his subsequent arrest about 30 minutes later and 25 miles away in Discovery Bay.
Authorities were looking for Johnson, a level three sex offender, after he allegedly failed to register a change of address from a Sequim address.
Johnson has past convictions of first-degree child molestation and third-degree rape of a child.
Friday arraignment
Judge Erik Rohrer set Johnson’s bond at $150,000 at a Monday afternoon hearing and scheduled Johnson’s arraignment for 9 a.m. Friday.
“I have six months to live,” he blurted out to Rohrer after Rohrer set the arraignment date.
Johnson said he has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, also known as Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer that develops from cells in the body’s immune system.
He said his doctor informed him that he is terminal “before all this happened.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rohrer responded.
“We’ll just have to see where things go with these cases, but it seems like the last thing you need.”
Johnson also has pending cases in Clallam County District Court and five prior felonies, said county Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin.
“In this case, the allegations are pretty egregious,” Devlin said.
“Mr. Johnson is a proven flight risk.
“He is a danger to the community.”
Started as passenger
He was the passenger in the first vehicle he allegedly stole, a Subaru Legacy, when authorities stopped the driver at 1:11 a.m. Saturday near schools in a Sequim residential neighborhood, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
The driver was being questioned outside of the vehicle, which contained a rifle with the stock sawed off, when Johnson allegedly slipped into the driver’s seat and sped away, authorities said.
He reached speeds of 70 mph on North Fifth Avenue and 80 mph on Brown Road, both 30-mph zones, according to the narrative.
He got out of the Subaru at Maple Street and South Sequim Avenue and approached the male driver of a Mazda Miata, pointing the rifle at the driver and pulling him out of the car when the driver became hung up on his seatbelt.
The pursuit continued on U.S. Highway 101, with Johnson throwing things out the window to obstruct his pursuers, as Jefferson County deputies set up spike strips. Two spike strips did not stop the vehicle.
Port Angeles police officer Lucas DeGand employed a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT, maneuver, by bumping the rear side of the car, causing it to spin and come to a halt.
Forehead cut
Johnson was taken into custody at 1:42 a.m. Saturday and treated at Olympic Medical Center for a cut on his forehead.
He was booked into the Clallam County jail at 5:11 a.m. Saturday on three misdemeanor warrants for failing to appear in court on separate charges, two felony warrants and two felony counts of failing to register as a sex offender.
According to the arrest narrative, Johnson’s drivers license also had been suspended Nov. 29, 2013 for child support enforcement.
Authorities have not found the rifle Johnson allegedly brandished, Ron Cameron, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office chief criminal deputy, said late Monday afternoon.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
