Outgoing Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife, newly elected County Council Member Leslie Johnson, have been seized by the FBI. TBD, the Gazette and the Post have details.
County residents can rest easier knowing that they have been “commited” to custody.
Update: We do not know the exact charges made against Johnson. But we do know that the FBI has been investigating various people connected to the county government since at least September 2008, when it conducted a series of raids against a former County Council Member, a fire department official and a developer. Two sets of documents seized in the raids contained these labels:
DOCS FROM TOP OF RICKER’S DESK RELATED TO 5 LOTS SOLD TO J. JOHNSON.
JT VENTURE AG – STAVROU, COLTON, RICKER DEVE GRP, LLC; DRAFT LTR FROM JACK JOHNSON RE: GB SENIOR HOUSING
Also, a $700,000 charity fund set up by National Harbor developer Milt Peterson at the county’s behest has attracted a bit of attention. Much of the money wound up with Johnson’s political allies. That spurred an investigation by state prosecutors in 2007. Leslie Johnson was involved in disbursing grants from the fund.
Finally, Jack Johnson’s friends have benefitted from county land sales since he took office. In July 2008, the Post reported:
Prince George’s County development deals worth millions of dollars have gone to people with ties to County Executive Jack B. Johnson, several of whom received the land at cut-rate prices, had little or no development experience or were given no-bid contracts, according to government records and interviews.
Since Johnson (D) took office in December 2002, his administration has agreed at least 11 times to sell county-owned land to people with connections to him, including a business partner, a former business partner, a golfing buddy and a campaign contributor who held political fundraisers for him.
Two of those who won contracts had created their development companies weeks earlier. In one case, the development group named in the contract was not incorporated with the state until a month after the deal was signed.
Johnson intervened in two of the deals, in one instance writing a letter that promised financing for a friend who did not have the money to get the project done, records show. Four of the projects were unsolicited or not put out to bid.