A federal investigation involving former Assistant District Attorney J. Floyd Johnson, first reported by The Independent Weekly in February, came to a conclusion in U.S. District Court Wednesday with Johnson’s guilty plea to one count of tax evasion and the revelation that he concealed ownership of a home and lied to federal investigators.
Johnson, 50, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Richard T. Haik in Lafayette. In July, while still a prosecutor with 15th Judicial District Attorney Mike Harson’s office, he was charged in a bill of information with the single count of tax evasion and resigned from the DA’s office shortly thereafter.
At sentencing, Johnson faces up to five years in prison, a $100,000 fine, and a mandatory minimum term of not less than two years and not more than three years supervised release following confinement.
Federal prosecutors say Johnson failed to file his federal income tax return in 2003 after receiving income from his salary at the DA’s office and his private law practice totaling $259,371 (several sources have told this newspaper that they were unaware Johnson even had a private law practice). Johnson, who had been with the DA's office for 15 years when he resigned in July, was making about $83,000 as a full-time prosecutor. He did not pay approximately $84,581 in federal income tax for 2003. In order to avoid the payment of taxes, interest and penalties due on assets and income, Johnson purchased property and placed it in someone else’s name, in one case his brother's. He told federal agents that his home was owned by his brother, when in reality all of the property and the home was his, prosecutors say.
Johnson was not charged with the additional crime of lying to the feds — and there’s more to his scheme: In an attempt to conceal income from his private practice, Johnson failed to maintain an operating account, depositing proceeds from his law practice into a client trust account to conceal the nature of the funds. In addition, Johnson knowingly failed to file income tax returns for the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
“Honest taxpayers lose out when someone evades paying taxes that are owed. Our office and the IRS are working diligently to identify those who do not comply with the tax laws and will hold them accountable,” U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said in a press release announcing the guilty plea. Finley, who prosecuted the case, was not available for comment Wednesday afternoon.
“Today’s announcement represents the latest chapter in the longstanding commitment of the Department of Justice, FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation to ensure that those entrusted to serve the public do so without reaping unlawful gain,” said James C. Lee, special agent in charge of the IRS' Criminal Investigation division. “IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to vigorously pursue those who intentionally evade the tax laws. All income, regardless of the source, is fully taxable, and the Special Agents of the IRS are committed to investigate and recommend for prosecution those who do not fully pay their fair share.”
This case was investigated by the U. S. Department of Treasury, the IRS' Criminal Investigation division, and the FBI.
The tax evasion charge was not the first time the prosecutor found himself on the other side of the law.
In mid-2005, the state Attorney General’s office charged him in a Bill of Information with domestic abuse battery for allegedly abusing his wife, Lysandra, over a three-day period in May 2004.
Johnson denied the allegations in news reports.
Police were called to a local hospital after Johnson brought his wife in for what he said were severe migraines, though she had swelling in her face and a red eye. At the time, Johnson offered to resign, but Harson instead suspended him for two weeks and ordered him to undergo anger management counseling.
At the time, Harson told The Daily Advertiser that Johnson would likely keep his job even if convicted of the domestic abuse charge. The AG’s office handled the investigation because of Johnson’s relationship to Harson’s office.
Since Johnson’s arrest, he continued to prosecute domestic violence cases, according to the daily paper, and was the lead prosecutor in the Alexuia Feast case, the October 2004 killing of a 13-year-old who had been removed from her Lafayette home by authorities because of allegations of abuse.
The domestic abuse charges against Johnson were dismissed in April 2006, "due to the victim's request," said Louisiana AG spokeswoman Jennifer Roche.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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