Local News

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office jailed a man wanted for violating his probation in Georgia for beating up a man and his wife in the Merlin area last weekend.

The Sheriff's Office reports the Medford Police Department transferred 40-year-old Joshua Joseph Johnson to Josephine County deputies at Exit 33 in Central Point on Sunday at 6:06 a.m..

Deputies said they were alerted to a disturbance in the 200-block of Gary Lane on Sunday at 12:55 a.m.. They said a woman called 9-1-1 to report a male subject crashed his vehicle outside their residence, came to their house, attacked her husband and punched her in the face. The caller said her husband was knocked out and bleeding badly from a laceration near his eye. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth. The suspect then fled the scene in a Chevrolet S-10 pickup.

The victims identified the suspect as Johnson and said he lives in a nearby trailer. He crashed his vehicle into a ditch and was injured badly enough that he was taken by ambulance to Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford. He was reported to be highly intoxicated and slurring his words prior to being taken to the hospital.

After treatment at the hospital and transfer to local deputies, Joshua Johnson was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for one count of 1st-Degree Burglary, two counts of 4th-Degree Assault and two counts of Attempted 4th-Degree Assault. He was also found to be wanted on a Bartow County, Georgia, warrant for Probation Violation, Obstructing Police and Possession of Contraband Articles.