Police arrest suspect for harassing women 10 hours after prison release

Olympia police arrested a man suspected of harassing two black women and yelling racial epithets at a gas station just hours after he was released from state prison.

Cody Howard Johnson, 46, appeared Monday in Thurston County Superior Court on one count of malicious harassment. Bail was set at $25,000 and arraignment was set for March 22.

According to court documents, officers responded to a disorderly conduct complaint March 4 at the Mobil station at 2303 Pacific Ave. SE. A black woman told police she was pumping gas when a white man — later identified as Johnson — allegedly yelled at her, “Get out of our town!” and called her a racial slur.

The man continued to yell at the woman as she tried to maintain her distance, according to documents. The woman’s aunt came to her defense and picked up a window squeegee as an improvised weapon because the women feared the man was going to assault them. The man continued to use racial slurs and flailed about erratically.

About 10 hours before his arrest, Johnson was released from the Monroe Correctional Complex in Snohomish County after serving three years for felony harassment. He has been designated as a dangerously mentally ill offender and refused to take any medications with him upon release from prison, according to documents.

Johnson is a registered sex offender based on a 1990 conviction in Oregon for first-degree rape. His criminal history, which dates back to 1988, includes convictions for attempted murder, burglary, assault, malicious mischief and failure to register as a sex offender.

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Police arrest suspect for harassing women 10 hours after prison release."