Man tries to say he wasn’t in Gainesville, but sheriff’s department cameras don’t lie

Daniel “Danny” Johnson, 35, of Gainesville, is charged with felony harassment in connection with an incident last month in which he reportedly threatened to physically assault a Gainesville man.

According to the probable cause statement, prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Lt. Matt Rhoades, at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 21, 2024, the officer was dispatched to a report of harassment in Gainesville. 

Rhoades wrote in his report that the victim had left a written statement at the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, and the officer obtained the report and called the victim to follow up on the report. 

The victim told Rhoades that Johnson drove to his residence just before 5 p.m., pulling up to the house at a high rate of speed and parking his truck behind the victim’s truck in the driveway. The man said he was outside at the time, and Johnson rolled down his driver’s window and yelled at the victim that he was going to “[expletive] you up” and “take you out for good” as soon as the man was at the house without his son (as the boy was with the victim at the time). The victim said that be believed Johnson would carry out the threats when the man’s child wasn’t there.

Rhoades canvassed the area and located camera footage of Fourth Street in Gainesville, which covers an alley that the house’s driveway sits on. At 4:55 p.m., the footage shows Johnson drive quickly down the alley that leads to the driveway in his white Chevrolet pickup. A different angled camera’s footage also showed the same truck passing at the same time.

Earlier in the day, at 5:04 p.m., before the report was made but just after the reported incident, Rhoades and Deputy Gannon Moss had just returned to the sheriff’s office and passed Johnson standing outside his truck which was parked at his house, located a short distance from the OCSD. He was wearing a gray hoodie and immediately turned away from the officers when he saw them. Both officers commented what a strange reaction Johnson had to the officers, but they hadn’t received the report of the crime yet.

Around 2:15 p.m. the next day, Dec. 22, Rhoades and Moss located Johnson outside of his residence. 

Rhoades asked him if he had been to the victim’s house and threatened him, and Johnson reportedly said no, that he hadn’t gone anywhere the day before. 

Then Rhoades told him that his truck was seen on video footage outside the victim’s house. Johnson still said that he was not at that house at that time, and that he was in Springfield from 2 p.m. until late that night. He said he had receipts for transactions he made that could prove it and that his kids were with him and they could vouch for his whereabouts in Springfield at that time. Rhoades asked what store he had been to, and he said he was at Kohls at 5 p.m. approximately (the same time the crime was alleged to have occurred).

Johnson reportedly repeated the account that he’d been in Springfield several times. When Rhoades asked what he’d drove to Springfield, he said his mother’s Ford car.

Rhoades questioned Johnson, saying that he knew he had three kids, a wife, and along with him and his mother, that would make seven people in a five-seat car. Johnson reportedly corrected himself and said his sister also came, and they had split the people between the Ford car and her Ford Explorer. He said his mother and sister pulled into the driveway on the east side of the house. 

Rhoades asked him if he would see Johnson in his truck on the sheriff’s department cameras driving on the east side of the building (which is in view of the OCSD), and Johnson assured him that he wouldn’t because he was in Springfield all afternoon and evening that day with his wife and kids. 

Rhoades went back to the sheriff’s department and reviewed the footage, which showed that Johnson had not left his house for Springfield until at least 6 p.m., and at that point the truck left for about three hours and returned to the driveway.

“The camera shows the suspect and his kids outside his house and driving back and forth for quick trips all day until [4:34 p.m.] when you can see the suspect in the back yard,” Rhoades wrote in the report. “The kids get in the truck, and the truck leaves west on County Road 806. The truck returns and parks in the driveway at [4:36 p.m.] for several seconds and no one gets out. Then the truck drives east on County Road 806 toward Gainesville. The suspect’s truck is then caught on camera on Fourth Street less than 20 minutes later driving into the alley of the victim’s house.”

Rhoades wrote that Johnson was on probation at the time for an unrelated case of assault and tampering with a victim, and the officer informed his probation officer about the situation.

“The suspect lied to me about the entire incident stating he was not in town and made up an entire story, which proved to be false with video footage. I then informed the suspect that he was under arrest for harassment in the first degree,” Rhoades wrote.

Rhoades asked that the judge issue a warrant for Johnson’s arrest. 

“I believe the suspect has clearly demonstrated that he is unwilling to follow basic laws by being arrested 9 separate times and charged with multiple felony crimes this year alone. He has shown in the case that he is currently on probation, that he is willing to commit the crime of tampering with a victim multiple times while on an ankle monitor. I believe that he will attempt to retaliate against the victim in this case as he has in past cases,” the report says. 

Associate Judge Raymond Gross issued a warrant in the case on Dec. 23, holding Johnson without bond. He was arraigned three days later and released on his own recognizance. He is ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim.

He was scheduled to return to court before Judge Gross Tuesday. Results of that hearing were not available at presstime.