A Mississippi man will spend 15 years in prison after tying up a 73-year-old man while on the run from court-ordered drug rehabilitation.

David Todd Johnson of Glen was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty last month to kidnapping, armed robbery and jail escape in Lee County Circuit Court.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports the 50-year-old Johnson is likely to remain imprisoned until 2050 because of prior convictions.

Prosecutors say Johnson cut off an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet in June 2017 and escaped from God’s House of Hope rehab center in Nettleton.
Johnson appeared at a Nettleton home, asking for work to earn money.

A resident gave Johnson $20 for odd jobs, but Johnson robbed the man’s father at knifepoint and duct-taped the 73-year-old to a chair, stealing a phone and pickup. Johnson was arrested later that day in Tishomingo County.

During his initial appearance, Johnson told the judge he wasn’t mad at the victim.

“I was mad at someone else. I was trying to get back to Corinth to kill him,” he said before Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.

Less than two weeks later, on July 4, Johnson tried to climb the fence to escape from the exercise yard of the Lee County jail. He was caught before he could get away.

As a result of the plea agreement, charges of burglary and stealing a car were dropped.