Lewisburg Man Charged With Escape After Fleeing to Alabama for Four Months

Terry J. Johnson Jr., 40, of Lewisburg, was charged with felony escape after abandoning his electronic GPS ankle monitor on a Selinsgrove road and fleeing to Alabama, where he remained for approximately four months before authorities located him and returned him to Union County to face prosecution.

Johnson had been sentenced Sept. 18 by Union County Judge Michael Piecuch to two years of probation with restrictive conditions on a misdemeanor simple assault charge. The first three months of that sentence required him to serve time under house arrest with electronic GPS monitoring. Five days later, on Sept. 23, Union County Adult Probation officers were alerted that Johnson had removed the monitor and dropped it on Route 522 in Selinsgrove. Officers recovered the device at that location.

Charges were filed by Detective Frederick Hetrick of the Union County District Attorney's Office in the Lewisburg office of District Judge Jeffrey Rowe. Beyond the felony escape count, Johnson faces two misdemeanor charges: criminal mischief and theft by unlawful taking, the latter tied to the monitoring equipment he abandoned on the roadway.

Under Pennsylvania law, intentionally removing an electronic monitoring device while serving house arrest constitutes escape, a felony that can add prison time on top of whatever underlying sentence the defendant was already serving. Johnson's original sentence stemmed from a simple assault conviction; the new charges, if he is convicted, could substantially extend the time he spends under court supervision or incarceration.

The case is expected to proceed to arraignment and a preliminary hearing before Judge Rowe, where prosecutors will present their evidence and a judge will determine whether the matter advances to Union County Court of Common Pleas. The four-month window between Johnson's September disappearance and his return underscores the reach required when monitoring failures cross state lines, a dynamic that county probation officials and the DA's office navigated before bringing him back to Lewisburg to answer for the charges.