Rape suspect also accused of stealing from woman

A Havre man remains in jail on $250,000 bond after being arrested on suspicion of raping an elderly woman and stealing from her home.

Shane C. Johnson, 35, was arrested Thursday on charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, theft, forgery and two counts of burglary.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in court by Havre police, Johnson broke into the home of an 81-year-old woman on several occasions.

The investigation began on March 3, when a local bank called police to report that a man had attempted to cash a check that appeared to be fraudulent, Assistant Police Chief Mike Barthel said.

The elderly woman had told the bank on Feb. 28 that her checkbook was missing. She asked the bank to stop payment on checks numbered 2,992 to 3,000, the affidavit said.

On March 3, a man identified as Johnson attempted to cash a $200 check from the woman's account, the affidavit said. The check, which was not signed by the woman, was numbered 2,995, according to the affidavit.

Bank employees requested identification and a thumbprint from Johnson, who became nervous and fled, the affidavit said. During the process, Johnson left his ID card at the bank.

Bank records showed that a week prior to that incident, Johnson had cashed a $350 check from the woman's account, the affidavit said.

On March 4, police met with the woman. She said Johnson had broken into her home on several occasions, and had stolen her silver dollar collection and pawned it off, the affidavit said. She also believed that Johnson had stolen her checkbook, the document said.

Officers recovered a check written by a local merchant to Johnson in the amount of $590. The merchant told officers he had purchased a large amount of silver dollars from Johnson, the affidavit said.

The woman also told officers that on one occasion, Johnson forced her to have sex after hitting her in the head with a whiskey bottle, the affidavit said.

The woman also told police she was concerned because Johnson planned to buy a handgun, and she was afraid he was going to kill her, the affidavit said.

The woman told police that on another occasion she had found Johnson hiding in her bedroom, but that he did not hurt her, according to the affidavit.

Officers went to the woman's home where they discovered Johnson had been using a broken window in the garage to enter the house, the document said.

After speaking to the woman, officers attempted to locate Johnson.

Police executed search warrants at two locations where they seized evidence, but did not find Johnson, the affidavit said.

Johnson turned himself in on Thursday morning, police said.