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Last updated on Friday, June 1, 2012
(BLOOMFIELD) - A Worthington man has been summoned to Greene Superior Court next month to answer to a criminal charge filed against him.
Nick Schneider of the Greene County Daily World reports that the man allegedly told police that he was both a "hit man" and a targeted victim in separate telephone calls in a concocted ruse aimed at his ex-wife.
An initial hearing is set for 1 p.m. on June 25 for Johnny Turpin, who's faces a charge of false informing - a class B misdemeanor.
Turpin allegedly called the Linton Police Department at 7:52 a.m. on May 17 and told them he was a "hit man" and was hired to kill a man at an address on South Lessie Street in Worthington. He told a dispatcher that a female had given him $5,000 and a .38 caliber handgun to complete the "hit," according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Worthington Town Marshal Don Richardson.
A second call came to the LPD dispatch center about a minute later at 7:53 a.m. from an individual that the dispatcher recognized as the same person who had called earlier.
This time, the caller advised him that a woman had hired him to kill Johnny Turpin. He told the dispatcher that he had been inside the Turpin house and "knew the layout." Richardson wrote in the probable cause affidavit.
Richardson was contacted by the LPD about the two calls and as he was en route to the LPD headquarters to listen to and retrieve copies of the audio tapes of the calls, a third call was received.
On this call, the alleged "hit man" caller, advised, "There are children in the house, get them out."
Richardson noted that when he listened to the tapes, he immediately recognized the voice as that of Turpin on all three calls."
"There was no apparent effort at disguising his voice," Richardson wrote.
At about 12:24 p.m. on the same day, Richardson interviewed Turpin about a .38 caliber handgun that he had reported stolen a few days earlier and also discussed the trio of calls.
At first, Turpin denied the allegations and told police, "Well, if I did it. I was asleep."
Turpin, who lives at 206 S. Lessie Street, eventually admitted that he had made the calls to the LPD "because he had heard his ex-wife had a contract out on his life."
"Mr. Turpin advised that he was scared, and that was the only reason he gave for making the false reports," Richardson wrote in the affidavit.
On May 20, while conducting a seatbelt enforcement survey, Turpin was stopped for not wearing a seatbelt.
"Inside the truck with him was the woman that he told us on May 17, 2012 that he was 'terrified' of," Richardson wrote in the court document.
Conviction of a class B misdemeanor carries a penalty of imprisonment for a fixed term of up to 180 days and a fine not to exceed $1,000.
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