Terelle Anterion Johnson, the 29-year-old Stone County resident charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother, is no stranger to law enforcement.
Long before he was arrested last Wednesday, he had gained a certain notoriety with policemen, jailers and probation officials.
In May 2015, Johnson was confronted by Wiggins Police Department officers at the Chevron gas station and convenience store on Hwy. 26 after they had received a complaint of someone stealing gas.
After having been told to stay out of his vehicle and not leave the area, he did and led officers from WPD and the Stone County Sheriff’s Department on a chase that ended up with Johnson taking refuge in a house in the county and entering a standoff with the officers.
Capt. Ray Boggs of the SCSD talked Johnson into surrendering and he was treated for self-inflicted knife wounds.
He ultimately entered a guilty plea to the charge of failure to stop motor vehicle and in Sept. 2016 was sentenced to five years imprisonment, with that sentence suspended for three years of reporting probation.
In March 2017, Johnson’s probation was revoked and he was ordered to attend and successfully complete an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment program with the Veterans Administration.
Johnson’s former probation officer, Candace Stewart, said he was kicked out of the VA program.
Stewart said she recognized the violent tendencies of Johnson and wanted him incarcerated but the state wouldn’t follow her recommendations.
“When I was his P.O., I tried everything in my power to get him sent to prison and Jackson would not allow that,” she said. “They called me from Jackson asking me why I was being so hard on him and asking me why I wouldn’t allow him to go to the VA for treatment.”
Stewart said he’d already been kicked out of the VA but, given no other option by higher ups in Jackson, had him sent there again.
She said she told Jackson they didn’t know the type of person she was dealing with.
“But they didn’t listen and I had to recommend to the judge that he be given another chance at the VA, where he got kicked out again,” she said.
In May 2017, Johnson was sentenced to attendance and completion of a long-term drug and alcohol treatment program with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
At some point while incarcerated, Johnson got into an altercation with another inmate and bit off that other inmate’s nose while also doing considerable damage to the other inmate’s upper lip.
In April of this year, the court ruled that Johnson had successfully completed the MDOC’s drug and alcohol treatment program and his probation was increased by two years and he was released from incarceration.
Little more than two months later, his 51-year-old mother, Sherry Johnson, was dead and he was back in custody, facing a charge of first-degree murder and looking at the possibility of life in prison.
