Prosecutors have dropped the charges against a Gwinnett County attorney who was arrested this summer on allegations he drugged a female employee.
The Gwinnett district attorney’s office said Tuesday that after reviewing the evidence and consulting with the victim, there is “insufficient evidence to proceed” with the case against Anthony O. Van Johnson.
Following a nine-month investigation, Johnson was arrested June 4 and charged with possession of a schedule I or II controlled substance with intent to distribute.
A female employee believed she might have been drugged and possibly assaulted after getting drinks with Johnson at a local restaurant, the DA’s office said.
The woman, who worked as an interpreter for Van Johnson, had told police the two were out for a meal at a Bahama Breeze in Duluth after work when she ordered a drink and excused herself to the restroom.
“When she returned, the drink was waiting for her and she noticed there was a powder at the bottom,” Gwinnett police Cpl. Wilbert Rundles said in June. “She assumed this was extra salt that she had ordered with her drink.”
According to initial reports, the woman consumed the drink and said she did not remember what happened until she woke up hours later.
Preliminary testing revealed that the woman’s urine contained Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, a central nervous system depressant commonly referred to as a “club drug.”
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