Falsely accused, Stillwater woman fights for truth

A young Stillwater woman's Dickensian nightmare of being mistaken for a South Dakota felon, publicly arrested by three U.S. marshals, and thrown frightened and bewildered into Washington County jail for three days is nearing an end.

As it turns out, 19-year-old Courtney Johnson was telling the truth all along: Police were pursuing the wrong suspect. Someone used her lost driver's license to forge checks stolen from a Sioux Falls church totaling more than $8,500, and she actually was in a Stillwater hospital on the day before the crime occurred, then recuperating at home with her mother.

Another woman is now being implicated in the forgery case, her lawyer said Friday. And Johnson has never been to South Dakota.

Johnson has the affidavits and has presented enough other evidence so that South Dakota is no longer seeking to have her extradited. After three court hearings, Washington County has dropped its part of the case on South Dakota's behalf.

Scott Martin of White Bear Lake, Johnson's lawyer, is expecting prosecutors in South Dakota to dismiss the charges, perhaps as soon as next week.

But not without a lot of anguish and expense.

"It's a big relief. I've just been waiting for this day," Johnson said. "I've been scared sometimes to even leave my house."

"I actually had to take a break from working on the boat," she said. "I had to take a break and kind of lie low. I was so paranoid, I didn't want anything else to happen."

Johnson was arrested in June at her job after being charged in the forgery case. Sioux Falls police based the charges on the driver's license and on surveillance film from a bank showing the suspect cashing the forged checks.

Martin said investigators ignored the fact that Johnson's license had been stolen and replaced, and some simple detective work -- in fact, just a couple of phone calls -- would have made it clear they were pursuing the wrong person. In the arrest warrant affidavit, the lead detective states he was unable to find an address for Johnson when it was listed on the first page of the same affidavit.

Martin's legal legwork yielded affidavits verifying Johnson was in the hospital or at work when the crimes were committed. He sent the information on July 2 to the states attorney's office in Sioux Falls, but the detective did not respond.

"You'd think that detective would have called me, but there's been no call, no letter," Martin said. "They've sat on their hands and wouldn't lift a finger. They didn't make a phone call."

Officer Sam Clemens, spokesman for the Sioux Falls Police Department, said the witnesses, driver's license and bank footage were enough evidence to establish probable cause for the charges against Johnson.

"We're not saying 100 percent that this is the person who committed the crime, but there's enough evidence that points to probable cause," he said. Under the legal system, if police have probable cause, they are obligated to make an arrest and let the courts establish guilt or innocence.

Johnson said she's been grateful to her family for paying thousands of dollars in legal bills. Clearing her name from the wrongful criminal record also will be costly.

For all she's been through, Johnson said she's learned many lessons.

"Just to be careful," she said. "Any little thing can lead to something like this related to identity theft."

Johnson, who attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, has transferred this fall closer to home at Century College in White Bear Lake -- a change she had been considering before her ordeal. She is unsure about a career path, but the criminal justice field has suddenly emerged as a possibility.

"My attorney says it's something maybe I should go into," she said. "I'm very interested in that now."