Left: Michael Christopher Johnson. Right: Vehicle used in alleged thefts (Dallas Police Department)
Cops in Georgia are searching for a Florida man who has allegedly stolen several stretchers used to carry dead people from nursing homes.
Several agencies in the Atlanta area have issued arrest warrants for 56-year-old Michael Christopher Johnson for allegedly stealing numerous — presumably bodiless — mortuary gurneys. On May 6, the Dallas Police Department responded to Benson’s Funeral Home after workers there discovered a stretcher had been stolen from one of their vehicles.
Two days later, officers from the Acworth Police Department took a complaint about a damaged vehicle and a stolen stretcher from Georgia Funeral Care. Video from surveillance footage and street cameras show that Johnson is responsible for “multiple incidents in nearby jurisdictions,” cops say.
Johnson is facing charges of entering an automobile with intent to commit theft, criminal trespass and theft by taking. The stretchers are reportedly worth upward of $1,500.
“Mr. Johnson was linked to several other incidents in the metro Atlanta area in regards to these stretchers being stolen, and there was an attempt to sell them to different funeral homes in the area for a profit,” Dallas police Lt. Michael Selleck told Atlanta Fox affiliate WAGA.
Don Ware, owner of In Their Honor Transports in Canton, said in an interview with the TV station that Johnson allegedly tried to sell him a “used” gurney for $1,000.
“It’s very unusual to hear anybody breaking into a funeral home, or the vehicles, because who wants that mojo on them?” he told the outlet.
Ware says Johnson should turn himself in so he can answer for his crimes.
“Don’t be messing with the funeral industry anymore. We do a good job of trying to take care of people,” he said.
Dallas police released a photos of Johnson and his Chrysler van with the Florida license plate PM759X.
Anyone with knowledge of Johnson’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Acworth Police Department at 770-974-1232 or the Dallas Police Department at 770-443-8100.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
