2 Westmoreland County Prison inmates facing charges in unrelated incidents

Two inmates at the Westmoreland County Prison were arraigned Friday in unrelated cases filed by county detectives.

Gerald Demond Johnson, 21, is charged with aggravated assault and simple assault.

Police said guards at the Hempfield jail ordered a random search on two units March 12 and found deplorable conditions in Johnson’s cell. He refused to clean the cell and, as he was being handcuffed to be moved to a different area, he punched a guard in the face, according to court papers.

He has been incarcerated since May 12 on weapons violations filed by New Kensington police, according to jail and court records. His trial is scheduled to begin in April.

In the second case, Tarrae W. Johnson, 29, is charged with prohibited offensive weapon and weapons or implements of escape.

Investigators said jail guards searched his cell on March 10 and found an arm that had been broken off from a pair of eyeglasses and sharpened. The item was hidden in socks, according to court papers.

Tarrae Johnson admitted the item belonged to him during a disciplinary hearing and claimed he used it as a screwdriver to fix his eyeglasses, police said. There were no glasses found during the search.

He has been an inmate since July 2. Tarrae Johnson was sentenced March 8 to roughly one to two years in jail for his role in an yearlong scheme among several inmates that used fake legal mail to deliver drugs to the lockup, according to online court records.

Neither Tarrae Johnson nor Gerald Johnson had attorneys listed in online court records. Both are being held on $50,000 bail each. Preliminary hearings are set for April 2.