Downtown Pittsburgh merchants tired of what they are calling revolving door of justice
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Merchants in Downtown Pittsburgh say they are tired of what they are calling the revolving door of justice.
When you talk about a broken criminal justice system, Arnez Johnson could be the poster child. He has been arrested more than a dozen times in the last two years and then he's back on the streets. But police and merchants said he's not alone. The police arrest him, take him to jail, and within a day or two — or maybe hours — he's been back out on the streets.
"Before the officer's shift ends, they arrest them in the afternoon and they're back in the same exact spot by the evening," said Dennis Scott of Weiner World.
KDKA-TV told you about Johnson back in the spring after he'd been arrested in Downtown Pittsburgh for the 13th time. He has been accused of exposing himself to female workers and rubbing against them, repeated retail thefts, aggressive panhandling and open drug use. But he has served little time in jail.
Last Thursday, police say he was at again. Banned from a Rite Aid for a half-dozen thefts, police were summoned when they said he was putting items down his pants and wearing a hoodie he'd allegedly stolen from Steel City next door. But after taking him to jail, court records say District Justice Thomas Brletic once again released Johnson on an unsecured bond.
The following day, police arrested Johnson again for indecent assault after he was accused of grabbing a female employee of PNC Bank and exposing himself to her, something he'd been arrested for in the past.
"There's clearly a pattern here. This guy now, with all due respect to everybody, this guy now is dangerous. There's no question," defense attorney Bill Difenderfer said.
Difenderfer makes his living defending people accused of criminal acts. But he says the system is broken when repeat offenders are continually let free. He says magistrates need to say enough's enough.
"(Police) should be able to somehow red flag that case and differentiate him and a mother who just stole a steak out of Giant Eagle," he said.
After the latest arrest, District Justice Richard G. Opiela denied Johnson's bail. Merchants say this is what needs to happen with all repeat offenders.