A 25-year-old Dickeyville man faces felony charges for allegedly stealing a car in Dickeyville and driving it to Platteville, and for allegedly trying to bribe a Grant County sheriff’s deputy Thursday morning.
Those charges are in addition to a pending Lafayette County auto theft case from late February, and additional Lafayette and Grant county felony charges, for which he was out on bond before Thursday.
Timmy Lansing Johnson Jr., 224 S. Main St. apartment 9, will have a preliminary hearing in Grant County Circuit Court in Lancaster Thursday at 2 p.m. on charges of taking and driving a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and bribery of a public official, both felonies, and resisting or obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor.
Johnson made his first Grant County court appearance on the two felony charges Friday. Bond was set at $10,000.
Between the pending Grant County charges and the pending Lafayette County charges, Johnson faces a maximum of 34 years 9 months in prison and up to $110,000 in fines.
Grant County authorities received a report of a vehicle stolen in Dickeyville Thursday morning. The vehicle was stolen from a Dickeyville business where its owner had parked it, the Grant County Sheriff’s Department said.
A Grant County deputy was on patrol in Platteville Thursday morning when he saw Johnson leave a Platteville house with “an elderly gentleman,” according to the Sheriff’s Department. The deputy detained Johnson as part of the investigation, and the vehicle was recovered on the UW–Platteville campus, where Johnson was taken to and then arrested.
While being transported to the Grant County Jail in Lancaster, Johnson “attempted to bribe the deputy into letting him go, including offering him a large amount of money,” the sheriff’s department said.
The Grant Count Sheriff’s Department was assisted by Dickeyville and Platteville police and the Wisconsin State Patrol. A Lafayette County K-9 also assisted.
Johnson has four additional cases pending in Grant and Lafayette counties dating back to August.
Johnson pleaded not guilty Feb. 10 to a Grant County charge of repeater fraud on a taxicab operator of up to $2,500, a misdemeanor, for an incident Aug. 24, according to court records. A status conference on that charge is scheduled for April 9 at 2 p.m. Johnson was out on $100 cash bond after a status conference Jan. 16, according to court records.
A Grant County trial is scheduled for Johnson on a felony driving or operating a vehicle without owner consent charge as a repeater and three misdemeanor bail jumping charges April 22 and 29, with a status conference scheduled for April 9 at 2 p.m.
Johnson was charged on one misdemeanor bail jumping charge Sept. 5, according to court records, and was out on $100 cash bond posted Jan. 16 after it was set at $200 Jan. 3, according to court records.
Johnson also pleaded not guilty Feb. 10 to that driving or operating a vehicle without consent for an incident Jan. 2, according to court records. He also pleaded not guilty to the other two misdemeanor bail jumping charges, according to court records.
Meanwhile, in Lafayette County, Johnson was charged Jan. 16 with a driving without consent charge for an incident Aug. 29, according to court records. Johnson pleaded not guilty to the charge Jan. 27, six days after he was released on a $2,500 signature bond, according to court records.
Johnson was then arrested Feb. 24 on charges of driving or operating without owner consent and felony bail jumping. He was accused of stealing a minivan from the Super 8 Motel in Darlington Feb. 25. The van was found in Platteville, according to Darlington police.
Johnson was released on a $3,000 signature bond March 12, according to court records. His Lafayette County preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for April 9 at 8:15 a.m.
A Lafayette County charge of fraud on a taxicab operator of up to $2,500 was dismissed on a motion from the Lafayette County district attorney’s office Jan. 27, according to court records.
