Boston police officer facing drug charges in Grafton County
Jan. 17—A Boston police officer, now suspended from duty, has been accused of traveling to the Lincoln-Woodstock area to exchange drugs for sex, according to details that have emerged since police filed drug possession charges against him early last year.
The officer — Andrew L. Johnson, 55, of Chestnut Hill, Mass. — faces two felony charges alleging possession of methamphetamine and amphetamine.
According to papers filed in Grafton County Superior Court, the drugs were among some 110 pills that police found when they obtained a warrant to search Johnson's bags, after they answered a call about a fight at his room at the Inn 32 in North Woodstock in January 2021.
According to court records, police found two women crying and sitting in their car at the hotel parking lot when they answered the call.
One told police she met Johnson a few years earlier when he called a local taxi company and said he was looking for a good time.
Amanda Dinger told police she worked for the company and started having sex with Johnson in exchange for drugs; he visited the area multiple times to exchange drugs for sex.
She also claimed Johnson was supplying drugs to an area businessman.
The incident unfolded on Jan. 23, 2021, when Johnson met Dinger and another woman at the Pemi Public House that night and then returned to his hotel room.
Dinger told police that Johnson tried to force himself on her when the other woman was in the shower. The other woman got out of the shower, jumped on Johnson's back and he punched her, Dinger said.
Johnson told police they were "fooling around" when he found Dinger going through his jeans and taking $200. The woman got Johnson in a headlock, and Johnson told police the two ran out of his room with his cell phone and the $200.
Dinger let police search her car. They found Johnson's cell phone and a small amount of what appeared to be cocaine, but no $200. They arrested Dinger on a drug possession charge.
Dinger had scratch marks on her face and chest, and her friend had a mark on her face that was developing to a bruise.
When police answered the call at the hotel, Johnson told them he was an internal affairs investigator with Boston police. According to Boston police, he was placed on leave with pay in January 2021, then suspended without pay on Aug. 2, 2021.
Boston police spokesman Sgt. John Boyle said a suspension occurs when a police officer is indicted for a crime.
The search ended up netting 112 pills. Ten pills tested positive for methamphetamine, and police also found about a gram of the drug in a bag, according to court papers.
They also found 48 pills described as amphetamine.
The information was disclosed in court papers filed within the last month to throw out the search.
Johnson's attorney, Leonard Harden, claims police overstepped their authority when they shined flashlights on the bags in a dark room and relied on the few pills they saw to justify a warrant.
He also cited them for relying on Dinger for information despite her obvious intoxication. And they had no reason to call in a police dog to sniff out the bags for drugs, Harden wrote.
The prosecution in the case is being handled by the office of Attorney General John Formella.
Jesse O'Neill, an assistant New Hampshire attorney general, said state police requested that his office handle the case.
"I can't say why," O'Neill said. "The referral was made to us, and we accepted it."
