By Mary Rooke
A local Missouri prosecutor has been barred from entering her office over allegations of misconduct spanning several years.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a quo warranto petition in July seeking the removal of elected Ray County Prosecuting Attorney Camille Johnston. Circuit Judge Daren Adkins issued a preliminary order temporarily barring Johnston from office pending litigation. Johnston, who has held the position since her 2014 election with subsequent reelections, including an unopposed run around 2022, faces allegations centering on undisclosed romantic relationships creating conflicts of interest, failure to recuse in affected cases, staff retaliation, and actions allegedly aiding a suspect’s evasion.
The most detailed allegations involve an illegal immigrant, Juan-David Gutierrez, who is charged with first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy and second-degree sodomy stemming from an incident in 2019. This allegedly happened while Gutierrez and Johnston were reportedly in a romantic relationship, including living together. Law enforcement notified her that Gutierrez was a suspect in a Ray County sexual assault. Johnston then allegedly failed to notify the court of her conflict of interest, withheld his location from authorities, helped him escape, transferred the title of her car over to him, and even went on vacation with him in Florida.
This alone would warrant Hanaway’s petition, but Johnston’s alleged inappropriate relationship with Gutierrez isn’t the end of the accusations she faces.
The petition claims Johnston also had an intimate and romantic relationship with a criminal defense attorney identified as T.T., who regularly represented criminal defendants in cases prosecuted by Johnston’s office. She reportedly did not disclose the relationship or recuse herself or her office from those cases, violating Missouri conflict rules that would have required her to appoint a special prosecutor for every case T.T. was involved in.
Johnston is also accused of engaging in yet another romantic relationship, but this time with a defendant in a domestic violence case identified as C.W. The petition alleges Johnston withheld information from the victim, staff, and court.
The situation escalated when a former employee in the victim advocate’s office, Joslynn Marco (J.M.), became aware of the relationship and reported her concerns to an assistant prosecuting attorney, characterizing the conduct as a serious violation and abuse of power. According to both the AG petition and Marco’s wrongful termination lawsuit, Johnston learned of the report and retaliated by firing Marco. Johnston was eventually disqualified from prosecuting the domestic violence case only after local law enforcement officers became aware of the relationship and sought the appointment of a special prosecutor.
“When an elected official treats public office like their personal playground, betraying the public trust, ignoring legal obligations, and putting self-interest first, removal isn’t a suggestion, it’s a necessity,” Hanaway said in a statement. “Johnston’s record reflects a sustained pattern of misconduct and willful neglect that has undermined the integrity of the prosecutor’s office and poses a serious threat to public safety. In Missouri, public office is public trust, not a personal entitlement, and no one is above accountability.”
One would think that serving as a county prosecutor might come with the basic expectation of avoiding romantic entanglements with the very people her office is supposed to prosecute, defend against, or investigate. Johnston, however, appears to have treated her office as her very own matchmaking service. (ROOKE: Blue County Welcomed So Many Foreigners Its Cops Now Need AI Translators)
What makes Johnston’s record particularly noteworthy is the sheer number of these alleged incidents. It is almost impressive how consistently she managed to create conflicts of interest across multiple cases, according to authorities.
But in all seriousness, victims and defendants deserve a fair justice system. Johnston’s alleged serial failures to keep her professional and personal lives separate appear to be an abdication of the public trust in the worst possible way.
