Judge rejects 80-year-old’s plea bargain

Man accused of assaulting teenage girl

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG — A proposed plea agreement that would have placed an 80-year-old man on probation for the indecent assault of a girl younger than 13 was rejected Friday by Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva.
Thomas Johnson of Altoona, who will be 81 Monday, committed a similar crime when he was 78, she said.
Kopriva asked Assistant Public Defender Theodore Krol how his client was doing in Blair County Prison, where he has been for the last two weeks since being arrested on a bench warrant.
Krol said Johnson has heart and blood sugar problems, but he was doing as well as any other person spending time behind bars.
Kopriva said she could agree to a plea bargain in which Johnson would be sentenced at the bottom of the standard range recommended by the state’s sentencing guidelines.
Those guidelines call for at least a three-month sentence.

Johnson denied committing the crime, a point Krol made as he urged Kopriva to accept a lesser sentence. Krol wanted Johnson to enter a no-contest plea to indecent assault and be placed on probation.

Kopriva delayed the hearing to give Johnson a chance to think over an agreement that would involve a three-month sentence.

Johnson, speaking to Krol, said he didn’t know what to do.

According to court documents, Blair County Children and Youth Services notified state police investigator Richard Brozenich in 2006 about the incident.

The alleged assault occurred in 2004, when the girl visited her grandmother and Johnson was present.

Police said Johnson followed the girl into her grandmother’s home, where he fondled her.

If Johnson agrees to a no-contest plea, he will be required to register under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law as a sexual offender and will have to register his address with state police, Assistant District Attorney Chris Jancula said.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.