Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Man Charged With Falsely Accusing Deputies

A Rosamond man has been charged with making a false crime report for inventing a tale that he was beaten by two sheriff’s deputies, apparently to keep his wife from learning that he was involved with drug dealers, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Sheriff’s investigators conducted a two-week investigation and “were on the verge of arresting a deputy” before they became suspicious of the man’s story, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brad Stone.

“They initially believed him,” Stone said. “He just kept giving descriptions.”

David Johnson originally said a deputy sheriff stopped him near San Fernando Road and Sierra Highway and took him to the Santa Clarita station, authorities said. He falsely charged that the deputy failed to book him properly, changed from his uniform to street clothes and took him to a remote area of Castaic, where he met another deputy, Stone said.

Johnson said both deputies then beat him up and let him go.

Actually, authorities said, Johnson was beaten up by some former drug suppliers and first told the story about the deputies to his wife, to conceal from her that he was continuing to use methamphetamine.

His wife called the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station and filed a complaint and Johnson was taken to a local hospital were it was confirmed that he had been assaulted, setting off the investigation of the deputies.

Johnson admitted to Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau investigators on Sept. 14 that he had lied and charges were filed against him more than two weeks ago, authorities said.

“We put in a lot of man-hours,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Barbara Persten, in charge of the Santa Clarita station’s detectives. “I am glad that we filed the charges.

“We get a lot of complaints, some are valid, some are not,” Persten said. “But when someone alleges criminal misconduct, you are putting somebody at risk.”