Penn State Football Player Gets Diversionary Program for Involvement in Frat House Fight

A Penn State football player who was accused of punching another man in the face at an off-campus fraternity house earlier this year was accepted into a pre-trial intervention program for first-time offenders, according to court records.

Theo Johnson, a 22-year-old junior tight end, was admitted into a six-month Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, which gives defendants with no or limited prior criminal records an opportunity to have charges dismissed and their records expunged upon completion. Participants are those who lend themselves to rehabilitation rather than punishment, and they must abide by terms and conditions, including remaining arrest-free.

Centre County Judge Pamela Ruest granted Johnson’s admission to the program, which is offered at the discretion of the district attorney’s office, on June 21.

Johnson allegedly refused to leave a Feb. 11 event at Sigma Chi fraternity on East Prospect Avenue in State College after residents saw he was not wearing a required wristband. 

He was accused of punching the man who approached him about leaving in the face. The man was diagnosed with a concussion at Mount Nittany Medical Center and his sunglasses, valued at $565, were broken in the altercation, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Johnson was originally charged with second-degree misdemeanor simple assault, but at his May 24 preliminary hearing, prosecutors downgraded the charge to a third-degree misdemeanor simple assault for a “mutual consent fight.” He also was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor count of criminal mischief.

Court records show no charges filed against the other man.

Johnson was Penn State’s fifth-leading receiver during his sophomore season in 2022, when he caught 20 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns, and is widely expected to take on a bigger role this fall. He did not play in the Blue-White game in April.