Former Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson was indicted by a grand jury on eight counts in federal court Monday, setting up a probable court appearance for Johnson in early March, a U.S. Attorney spokeswoman said.
Johnson had been scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., tomorrow for a preliminary hearing in which Magistrate Judge William Connelly would have made a ruling on whether or not there was enough evidence for the case to continue forward.
But Johnson’s indictment made the preliminary hearing unnecessary. The former executive, arrested by FBI agents in November as part of a sweeping county corruption probe, was charged on eight counts including conspiracy, bribery, witness and evidence tampering.
The 31-page indictment alleges Johnson committed extortion and accepted bribes totaling more than $200,000 from developers starting in 2003 until he was detained by the FBI on Nov. 12, 2010. In return, Johnson assisted two developers, not named but listed as co-conspirators in the indictment, in obtaining land and county funding for projects.
Billy Martin, Johnson’s lawyer, did not respond to phone messages left at his office.
The indictment also includes quotations from a number of phone conversations in which Johnson allegedly asked liquor store owner Amrik Singh Melhi to contribute money to the County Council campaign of his wife, Leslie Johnson.
Melhi was charged in November in a scheme to distribute untaxed alcohol and cigarettes.
A full transcript of a phone conversation that took place between Jack Johnson and Leslie Johnson, as the FBI waited at the couples’ door in Mitchellville, also appears in the indictment.
“There’s a little box and in the box there’s a check,” Jack Johnson said, according to the indictment. “Just tear it up or, or, or chew it up, somethin’, OK?”
Jack Johnson also told Leslie Johnson to hide cash in her underwear, the indictment said. FBI agents found $79,600 cash in her bra and underwear after a search, the indictment said.
Leslie Johnson, who was elected to the County Council in November, is scheduled to be in federal court for a preliminary hearing on March 16. She faces charges of witness tampering and destruction of evidence.
-By Maryland Newsline’s Alexander Pyles
Tags: FBI corruption probe, Jack Johnson, Leslie Johnson, Prince George's County
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