Searcy police have provided Arkansas Times with two police reports that indicate Timothy Dale Johnson, suspected of slaying Democratic Party chair Bill Gwatney, harassed a Searcy woman in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
According to a report tagged by officers as “harassment” and filed Feb. 17, 2005, workers at a Searcy dentist’s office told police that before Christmas 2004, Johnson had come in and claimed he was very upset due to the loss of his dog. Sometime after the first of the year, the report goes on to say, Johnson came back and requested to speak to a particular female employee.
“He then asked her if he could take her out on a date,” the report states. “She told him that she was happily married and that they could just be friends. He agreed and left the office. On Valentine’s Day, he brought her some flowers. He then came in today (2/17/05) and handed her a disturbing letter which upset her greatly. She did not read it until the subject had left the office already. She then called the P.D. to file a complaint.”
The text of Johnson’s letter to the woman was not included in the report.
In a second report, filed Feb. 8, 2006 under the heading of “suspicious activity,” an employee of the dentist’s office phoned police to say that Johnson had come in with a box of candy for the woman he had brought flowers to the previous year. Johnson was told that the woman didn’t want anything to do with him and he left. Afterward, employees of the doctor’s office called police. The woman said that she had not had any contact with Johnson since their previous encounter, and told police she didn’t want to file charges.
The reports do not say whether Searcy police contacted Johnson about the incidents. Attempts to reach the woman in question at the dentist’s office were met with a terse no comment and a warning that if the reporter called back, employees would call the police.