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Wanted for rape, ex-Congressional candidate dead in Cohoes
Ex-cop accused of raping prostitutes

By CAROL DeMARE , BRENDAN J. LYONS , BOB GARDINIER AND CHRISTEN GOWAN, Staff writers
Last updated: 2:30 p.m., Monday, December 22, 2008

COHOES - A one-time Congressional candidate and ex-cop wanted for allegedly raping women in York, Pa., and Baltimore was found dead inside a Mohawk Street apartment this morning, a law enforcement official said this afternoon.
     
U.S. marshals and Cohoes police were closing in on Michael L. Johnson, 40, of York when they heard gunfire come from inside an apartment at 2 Mohawk St., officials said.

Shortly before 1 p.m., the coroner removed Johnson's body from the apartment.

Johnson, who left the York Police Department in 1998 and once ran for Congress, was wanted for one alleged rape in Baltimore and two others in York, according to America's Most Wanted. The show recently profiled Johnson on it's Web site.

Johnson was accused for pretending to be a police officer and raping drug-addicted prostitutes, according to the York Dispatch.

A coroner and State Police evidence technicians arrived at the Mohawk Street apartment.

Johnson, the president of the Penn Township Board of Commissioners, was free on $100,000 bail when he disappeared earlier this month, according to the York Dispatch.

Johnson ran for Congress in 2002, coming in fourth in a four-person field.

Police closed off a portion of Mohawk and Cortland streets this morning, but have reopened the roads.

According to another law enforcement official, U.S. marshals and Cohoes police went to 2 Mohawk Avenue at about 9:30 a.m. to search for a rape suspect.

As they arrived, police heard gunshots inside 2 Mohawk St. A tactical team from the State Police were summoned along with ambulances as a precaution.

"He heard two shots, pop, pop. And then the cops came and told me to get out of my apartment," said Matthew Crispell who lives in another apartment at 2 Mohawk Street.

The apartment is part of a series of old factory buildings that have been converted into low-cost apartment.

Police closed the area to traffic and .............http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=753116