Police Charge Ex-Crime Services Chief Johnny Dean With Bribery

Published: September 8, 2026

MONROVIA — The Liberia National Police has charged the former head of its criminal investigations arm with taking US$10,000 to compromise a US$317 million drug trafficking case and has forwarded him to court.

Johnny Bolar Dean, 40, who served as commissioner of the Crime Services Department, the unit responsible for criminal investigations, was charged with criminal conspiracy, bribery, tampering with criminal investigation and obstruction of government functions by a public servant, according to a police charge sheet dated Sept. 1, 2026.

The charge sheet says Dean took the money from Stephanie Fefe Mensah while her “boss-man,” Edison Brown, and Alpha Bah were under investigation by the National Joint Investigative Task Force in the drug case.

Dean admitted in a written statement that he received the money from Mensah but said it was given to him for safekeeping and described her as his lover, police said. Investigators rejected that account, and the money was later retrieved from him, according to the charge sheet.

Police also accuse Dean of telling Mensah that her “boss-man” had been arrested, of disclosing confidential investigative information he was not authorized to share, of failing to perform duties required of him and of using his position to frustrate the inquiry. The charge sheet says his conduct went beyond a private financial transaction and amounted to an attempt to impair the government’s criminal investigative functions.

The case reached the Crime Services Department on Aug. 18, 2026, when Dean and Mensah were turned over following an administrative investigation by the police Professional Standard Division, which held them liable for conspiracy and bribery-related conduct. A special investigative team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Harold T. Jones was then constituted to run the criminal investigation, which police say established that Dean received the money while Brown and Bah were under investigation.

The allegations have not been tested in court. Dean is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and prosecutors must prove each element of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.