K9 Johnny – Trinity, California

Handler – Sergeant Trujillo

Passing of Retired Trinity County Sheriff K9 Johnny

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.

Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.