Sheldon Johnson: Ex-con and criminal justice advocate arrested after dismembered body found at home
BRONX, NEW YORK: A 48-year-old former prisoner who worked as an at-risk youth counselor at the Queens public defender's office is back in jail after being charged with killing a man and dismembering his body.
Following his release from prison in May of last year, Sheldon Johnson gained popularity for his remarks regarding his prior role as a Bloods gang leader and he's sentenced to 25 years for attempted murder, The New York Times reports.
Sheldon Johnson accused of murdering Collin Small
Johnson discussed how his involvement with Queens Defenders changed his life and his work with the organization last month on Joe Rogan's podcast. However, he was accused of murder, manslaughter, and unlawful possession of a weapon on Thursday, March 7, in connection with the death of Collin Small, 44.
Johnson answered the door at Small's Bronx apartment on March 5 after neighbors reported gunshots to cops. A neighbor claimed to have heard someone yell, "Please don't, I have a family," in between four gunshots.
Cops left after briefly speaking with Johnson and concluded that there was nothing suspicious. Another neighbor claimed to have seen a man carrying cleaning supplies as he entered and exited the apartment. The building super, Orlando Medina, said, “The guy (Johnson) stood there. They took him out. They looked in the apartment, but they didn’t find anything. They apologized, said somebody called, and they had to come.”
But later on, the cops returned, soon after Medina claimed that Johnson had informed the neighbors that Small was missing. Medina said, “I went back to the house and a neighbor called and said the guy is looking for me, he wants to talk to me. I said, ‘I’m gonna go to him, I’m gonna ask him what he wants, then tell the police what he tells me.’ That was the plan.”
Security camera caught a man changing clothes several times
According to Medina, police returned before he reached. Medina said that security cameras caught a man changing clothes several times. During one trip, the man pulled a wheeled storage bin while wearing a dark jacket, khaki pants, and a plain golf cap.
In another clip, the man carried two bags and wore a light jacket and a fisherman's hat. On a third trip, he wore a dark, puffy coat, sunglasses, and a long, blond wig. Superintendent Medina said, "I thought, I don’t know who this man is, but he is coming in and out with a key like he owns the place." Medina also claimed to have seen Small entering the apartment the previous evening but not leaving.
According to ABC7, when police obtained a search warrant for the apartment on the night of March 6, they discovered Small's head, legs, and arms in the freezer and his torso and feet inside the storage room.
He'd been hit in the head. Authorities have not provided a reason for the murder or explained how Johnson and Small knew each other.
Sheldon Johnson had criminal history
In 1997, Johnson, who was then going by the alias Thomas Smalls, was found guilty of having stolen property. He was found guilty of attempted murder and robbery two years later, the Times reported, and he served 25 years before being freed last year.
He started speaking and working in the field of criminal justice after being released. In an interview with the podcast, Rogan talked about wanting to rid himself of his previous life of drug dealing, guns, and gangs and to set his son free.
In 2008, at the age of 12, his son Sheldon Johnson entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter following an attack on a Columbia graduate student. “My son was growing up hearing stories about my so-called notoriety. I just didn’t want to be that dad,” Johnson told Rogan.
“I said to myself, ‘I’ve been doing bad for so long, I’m going to try to do something good.’ If all else fails, I could always go back to doing something bad. But let me try. Let me give it a shot.”
