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Wounded firefighter is arrested in drug case
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The fire chief will prepare a letter outlining the administrative charges, based on the drug charge.
YOUNGSTOWN — The grandmother of a city firefighter now charged with aggravated drug trafficking said he’s not a thug.
“My grandson is in serious condition, he’s a good kid, not a drug dealer,” Pearl Underwood said outside a municipal courtroom Monday. “He has three bullets in his body.”
Underwood briefly lashed out at city Prosecutor Jay Macejko after learning that her 26-year-old grandson, Andre “Dre” Johnson, was under arrest.
Macejko calmly told the woman that he saw the drug evidence officers collected at Johnson’s North Fruit Street home.
Johnson, off duty at the time, was shot in the face, stomach and leg at his home Nov. 14. A struggle took place in the basement, where furniture was overturned and blood found on the carpet.
During a search, vice squad officers found roughly a pound of marijuana in a duffel bag, a digital scale with marijuana residue, drug pipe, a loaded .25-caliber pistol and $500 cash in a night stand and smaller bags of marijuana.
Johnson was expected to be video-arraigned today in municipal court on the felony charge. Macejko said Johnson, if convicted, faces up to 18 months in prison.
The firefighter was taken into custody after Stefin Gantt, 20, of Garden Street N.W., Warren, waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Gantt’s felonious assault charge will now be considered by a Mahoning County grand jury.
Gantt is accused of shooting Johnson. Gantt was injured too, suffering a gunshot wound to his left forearm and losing part of his right ear.
Capt. Kenneth Centorame, chief of detectives, said Monday that Gantt likely shot himself during a struggle with Johnson. The captain said the investigation shows Gantt brought the .25-caliber pistol to Johnson’s house. The lead investigator is Detective Sgt. Daryl Martin.
Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said Johnson remains on sick leave, which will likely run out within two weeks or so, then he will be off work without pay.
O’Neill said he will prepare a letter outlining the administrative charges Johnson faces, based on the drug charge. The firefighter will have a pre-disciplinary hearing next week, the chief said, adding the punishment could be termination.
Johnson, hired in June 2006, has been assigned to Fire Station No. 12 on McGuffey Road. O’Neill said the firefighter was last given a drug test when he was hired. The fire department can give drug tests randomly or based on probable cause. Johnson was not up for a random check.
Underwood, meanwhile, said her grandson came home from St. Elizabeth Health Center for Thanksgiving but wasn’t able to eat because a bullet hit his esophagus. The hospital said he was released a week ago.
Johnson’s grandmother expressed concern that he wouldn’t be able to eat jail food. “He’s not a thug,” she told reporters, angry that he was taken into custody.
In an unrelated case, Vindicator files show that Gantt is accused of firing a shot in the direction of Warren Patrolman Jeff Miller when the officer was responding to a report of a man with a firearm in the 1500 block of North Park Avenue on Feb. 25. The case is pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.