An Edinburgh man with a lengthy criminal history will face multiple charges after police say he sent a woman 2,000 threatening text messages in five days.
Prosecutors charged Welby Johnson, 43, with stalking, a Level 5 felony; three counts of intimidation and four counts of invasion of privacy, all Level 6 felonies.
Johnson was first accused of violating a protection order, which was issued in December 2020 and served in February 2021, on March 15, when he sent the victim a text saying, “you better get a gun,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in June.
The victim told Franklin police Johnson was upset she had filed invasion of privacy charges against him. She said she was scared of him and did not want officers to speak with him because she was afraid it would make things worse. Police told the victim to stay with a friend for a couple of days, and to call 911 if Johnson came to her house, according to court documents.
The victim received hundreds of messages from Johnson’s phone. He seemed to be extremely agitated in the messages, and became increasingly agitated when she did not respond, eventually threatening to kill her and her family, court documents show.
The victim told police Johnson was in a manic state and would not stop threatening her. She was in fear for her life, and did not know how to get him to stop. At one point, Johnson warned her if she changed her number, he would kill her and her child, according to court documents.
When police attempted to communicate with Johnson via text message, he refused to meet with them to discuss the messages, and said he was sorry and did not mean anything by them, court documents show.
Police tried to determine his location but could not, according to court documents.
Then, on March 23, Johnson violated the protection order again, sending the victim more text messages. This time, he threatened to murder her and then himself, court documents show.
“If (I) go to prison you do know I’m killing you when (I) get out right? … If (I) get caught before and go to prison when (I) get out I’m going to murder you ASAP,” Johnson said in the text messages.
Johnson also sent the victim several voice messages. In one message, he threatened to murder her by cutting her throat, according to court documents.
After reviewing some of the messages, police read that Johnson planned on showing up at the victim’s child’s Franklin elementary school. Due to the extreme threats he had made against the victim, police believed the victim’s child to be in danger. Officers went to the school and secured the area. The victim’s children were taken to the Franklin Police Department for safety, court documents show.
Police immediately applied for a search warrant to obtain Johnson’s cell phone location, because the threats he had made to murder the victim and commit suicide placed him and others in immediate danger. The cell phone company provided police with the information, which indicated Johnson’s cell phone was about 5 miles south of Greensburg. Local police reached out to the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department for assistance. Decatur County deputies eventually located Johnson in his vehicle in the parking lot of a dollar store in Westport. He was taken into custody without incident, according to court documents.
Deputies took Johnson to the Bartholomew County jail, where he was wanted on a warrant for burglary charges, according to online court records. He was transferred to the Johnson County jail on Wednesday.
Johnson has been charged with invasion of privacy five times since 2018, and has an extensive criminal history that includes domestic battery, court records show.
He remains at the Johnson County jail on $15,710 bond.
