United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

INMATE WHO ESCAPED FROM HOOD COUNTY JAIL FACES
FEDERAL CHARGE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER OF AN OFFICER OF THE U.S.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jason Lee Johnston, who escaped from the Hood County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center last week, has now been charged in a federal criminal complaint with Attempted Murder of an Officer of the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Johnston, 24, appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge today in Fort Worth, who ordered him detained.

Johnston and Cleties Matthew Conley escaped from the Hood County Jail on July 28, 2007. Johnston was waiting to be transferred to a Texas Department of Corrections Detention facility where he was to serve a 30-year sentence for Aggravated Robbery. That same day, Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) Officers saw Johnston, Conley, Tiffany Michelle Johnston and an 18-month-old child enter a blue 4-door vehicle driven by Tiffany Johnston. FWPD officers stopped the vehicle on Las Vegas Trail in Fort Worth and during the stop, Jason Lee Johnston refused to comply with the officer’s order to get out of the vehicle. Officers approached the vehicle but he raised a black pistol and fired a shot at one of the FWPD’s officers. Tiffany Michelle Johnston then drove away in the vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the vehicle stopped and Tiffany Michelle Johnston, Cleties Matthew Conley and the 18-month-old child, got out of the vehicle and were taken into custody.

Officers and federal agents pursued the fleeing vehicle which was now being driven by Jason Lee Johnston. After a fast and dangerous vehicle chase, Johnston stopped the vehicle and pointed a black firearm out of the driver’s window and fired at a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent, striking his vehicle. The ATF agent fired back, but did not strike Johnston before he sped away and again eluded officers.

After she was arrested, Tiffany Johnston told officers that she had provided the pistol to Jason Lee Johnston and that he told her that he needed the firearm “for protection.” He also told her that he was not going back to jail.

A few days later, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (USMS FAST) found and arrested Jason Lee Johnston at a residence in Granbury, Texas. They seized the pistol, which was loaded with six rounds of ammunition.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Fort Worth Police Department, ATF and the U.S. Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bret Helmer.

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