Passing of Retired Trinity County Sheriff K9 Johnny

Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Retired K9 Deputy Johnny

Facebook post from the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department:

The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office is saddened to report the passing of our retired K9 Johnny.

K9 Johnny, a Belgian Malinois, joined the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office in 2012 and was partnered with Sergeant Nate Trujillo when they completed the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) K9 Academy. They worked together in Patrol for three years.

In 2015, they were assigned to the Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit. Johnny was trained in repelling from helicopters with Sergeant Trujillo and they worked numerous operations in several Northern California Counties. Throughout his career, K9 Johnny assisted in the confiscation of thousands of pounds of illegal controlled substances, participated in over 300 arrests with the seizure of over one million dollars of drug-related US Currency.

K9 Johnny excelled at community outreach; attending numerous K-9 demonstrations and school events, and proudly wearing his Santa outfit at the pack the patrol car event every year for Christmas.

During his service, K9 Johnny was poisoned by suspects on the Shasta Trinity National Forest in 2015, and was awarded the Purple Heart in 2016 after being stabbed in the neck by a fleeing suspect. He fought hard to recover and continued to serve the department.

K9 Johnny retired from active service in September 2022 and was enjoying retirement life with Nate and his family. On behalf of the entire Trinity County Sheriff’s Office, and the citizens of Trinity County, we thank K9 Johnny for his dedicated service.

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