The Johnstown Police announced Wednesday that Detective Daniel Fisher Jr. had been placed on paid administrative leave.

Police Chief Robert Johnson said that in March the department received information regarding potential misconduct involving Fisher. An internal investigation followed, and within days, information surfaced which indicated a criminal violation may have occurred. Fisher Jr. is facing three misdemeanors including hindering prosecution, and providing false information.

Police said the investigation focused on Fisher’s alleged sexual relationship with a woman confidential informant. The identity of the woman informant has not been released. Police learned that Fisher interfered with criminal reports concerning the woman.

Investigators from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations said that in July 2017, Johnstown Police arrested the woman on a charge of public drunkenness. She was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. Fisher drove past in his private car, and told the arresting officer that the woman was his informant. The handcuffs were removed and Fisher drove off with the woman in the front passenger seat of his car. This incident started the internal investigation by Johnstown Police.

Another incident occurred in March 2018, when Portage Police observed a car with an expired inspection sticker at a local bar known for narcotics activity. The woman informant was operating the car, and claimed the car belonged to her boyfriend. The Portage officers were able identify Fisher as the owner of the car through PennDOT records.

In June 2018, Cambria County Assistant District Attorney Erin Dominick related communication she had had with Fisher concerning the woman. Fisher claimed that she was his informant, and provided information on practically everything from drugs, homicides, information that led to the recovery of several guns, and information on two missing men who were later found dead in Somerset County. Based on this information, police reported that ADA Dominick reduced the sentence of the female for DUI offenses.

Police confirmed that Fisher had signed up the woman as a confidential informant in April 2017, but she was deactivated as an informant in February 2018. Records showed that the woman only made one undercover purchase of narcotics, and there were no reports of any guns seized, information on homicide investigations, and no additional information on narcotics that led to arrests.

Fisher initially denied any sexual relationship with the woman when being questioned by investigators, and said that they recently got engaged in March 2018. Fisher admitted that the woman never provided information on drugs, guns, or homicides, but that she did provide information on the recovery of nine bags of heroin. Fisher later admitted to the sexual relationship with the woman, which started before July 2017, when she was still a confidential informant for him.

Fisher also admitted to lying to ADA Dominick about information provided by the woman informant, lying about his sexual relationship with the woman during the internal investigation, and even said he spent a weekend vacation with the woman in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2017.

Fisher is being charged with hindering prosecution, and obstructing the administration of law or other government function.