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	All Charges against Granby Pastor Dropped By Derek Spellman Joplin Globe December 22, 2009 http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_356221459.html Missouri -- All charges against a former rural Granby pastor accused of molesting two women while they were underage have been dropped, prosecutors said Tuesday. The dropping of charges against George Otis Johnston marks the end of a case that grabbed national headlines, and found the leaders of sister churches in Newton and McDonald counties the target of sexual abuse allegations. At the height of the cases, a half-dozen people faced multiple charges. But over the past two years, charges against all the defendants in McDonald County were dropped, leaving Johnston the lone defendant in the cases. "He does welcome word that (the case) is over," Andrew Wood, Johnston's attorney, said Tuesday. "George always denied that he had done anything inappropriate." Efforts to reach Johnston for comment on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Wood said his client had to uproot his family and move in the wake of the allegations, which have "completely changed his life." 'Huge holes' Assistant Newton County Prosecutor Bill Dobbs said the 17 felony charges against Johnston were dropped Monday. "Not at this time," Dobbs said when asked if there were any plans to refile charges. A review hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to determine whether the case would continue. That hearing was continued from October so prosecutors could be afforded more time to contact the two women who alleged that Johnston had molested them. Dobbs reiterated Tuesday what he had told the Globe in October: The state's witnesses, apart from the two women, had either recanted statements or altered previous statements they provided to authorities. Wood said the two women had given a list of witnesses who they said would corroborate their accounts, although subsequent investigation "drove huge holes into their (the pair's) stories." Wood said that during depositions, almost all of the state's witnesses either did not corroborate or outright contradicted what the two women had told authorities. Dobbs said prosecutors had contacted the two alleged victims since October, and that both concurred with the decision to drop the charges. One of the women, then 17, testified at a preliminary hearing in September 2006 that Johnston had abused her over an eight-year period beginning when she was 8, and that she and other children had been taught to regard Johnston as "grandfather." E-mail: dspellman@joplinglobe.com
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