The case of a Missouri man accused of taking money from a 73-year-old woman to purchase and erect an aluminum carport at her residence but purchasing nothing and doing no work was dismissed during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court on March 17.
Prosecutors were able to work out a solution where the victim who lives in Mountain Home would recover all of the money she lost. They pointed out that if 35-year-old Daniel Eric Johnson, who lists an address in Gainesville, had gone to prison, the victim would likely have recovered little, if any, of her money.
Johnson is alleged to have been given three checks by the woman totaling slightly more than $7,400.
The elderly woman, who is reported to have multiple sclerosis, said her main goal in the case was to recover the funds she paid Johnson.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Johnson came to the woman’s house along Fleck Drive to give her a price on the job. He agreed to begin work March 11 last year.
On the day work was to commence, Johnson returned to the woman’s residence and told her the purchase price of the carport had increased by nearly $2,100.
The woman told investigators she wrote a check to cover the “increased purchase price” of the aluminum carport but told him the check should not be cashed until work was completed.
According to investigators, the check was cashed about 20 minutes after Johnson left the house. When Johnson again came to the woman’s residence, she confronted him about not following her request regarding cashing the check only after work was completed.
Johnson is alleged to have said his “wife” had seen the check on a counter in their home and cashed it not being aware of the woman’s instructions.
He later recanted that story and told the investigators he had cashed all of the checks the woman had written him.
The woman told Johnson she did not want him to proceed and wanted all of her money returned by. Johnson said they had a contract and that he was going to call his attorney. He is alleged to have said he intended to keep the woman’s “(expletive deleted) money.”
The probable cause affidavit outlines a series of alleged false statements Johnson made about the carport he had purchased and where it had been purchased. The records listed in the probable cause affidavit indicate he never took possession of a carport from anyone.
He also made and broke a number of promises about returning the woman’s money. On one occasion he said he no longer had the money because he had to “pay some bills” of his own.
Johnson is alleged to have told the woman he was licensed but records kept by the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board did not support that claim.
After more broken promises about returning the woman’s money a criminal case was opened on Johnson May 21 last year charging him with theft of property and being a habitual offender who had been charged with four or more felonies.
Finding Johnson a habitual offender would have allowed for a sentence enhancement.
In addition to his charges in Baxter County, the probable cause affidavit lays out a felony charge against Johnson in Crittenden County, Arkansas and multiple felony charges against him in Ozark County, Missouri.
Those earlier charges included being a felon in possession of a firearm, forgery, theft and theft of property.
He was once described as being armed and dangerous, possibly having violent tendencies and that he should be considered an escape risk. In late March last year, he was required to wear an ankle monitor stemming from an ongoing investigation by the Ozark County sheriff’s office involving 3rd degree domestic assault.
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