Wednesday, December 4, 2019

COP CRIMES IN AMERICA - THEY ALL GET OFF - CHICAGO COP KENNETH JOHNSON STOLE $363K FROM SOCIAL SECURITY BUT GETS OFF

Ex-Chicago cop dodges jail time after cashing $363K of dead mother's Social Security checks

A 32-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department managed to avoid jail time after admitting that he stole $363,000 by cashing in his dead mother’s Social Security checks.
Kenneth Johnson, who was the department's commander of the city’s 7th District, pleaded guilty to theft of government funds in May. Johnson had collected his deceased mother’s Social Security for 23 years.
His mother died in 1994 at the age of 72, but Johnson did not notify the Social Security Administration of her death, allowing 23 years of monthly checks to continue to be deposited in their joint checking account. Johnson was found out after Medicare administrators noticed that his mother, who would have been 96 years old, had not tapped into any of her medical funds in 2017.
The Social Security Administration mailed Johnson’s mother at her last address to inquire about her benefit usage. They cut off her payments after not receiving a response. Johnson had been withdrawing the funds using an ATM. Authorities noted that the crime was not a “crime of necessity or desperation” but a repeated effort to defraud the government and rake in $363,000. Johnson was earning $160,000 per year while working for the department.
“The only reason Johnson's theft came to an end in 2017 was because one of the Social Security Administration's program integrity initiatives prompted the agency to confirm whether Johnson's mother was still alive. Otherwise, Johnson simply would have continued stealing from Social Security," prosecutors said prior to Johnson’s plea.
Prosecutors revealed that Johnson had spent all but 59 cents of the Social Security funds placed in his mother’s account. They claimed they were shocked that Johnson, a police commander, had such a “troubling lack of respect for the law” and a “cavalier attitude about the nature and seriousness” of his crimes.
He claimed he was “replete with misery and shame” over his crimes.
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah berated Johnson for refusing to come forward with his wrongdoings prior to being caught, saying, "How many times (as a police commander) did you plead with people to come forward and accept responsibility for something? Yet all that while, there was a crime being committed that you knew all about, and you did nothing to stop it."
Shah may have had strong words against Johnson, but Johnson was not hit with a strong sentence. Prosecutors had asked that Johnson spend 18 to 24 months behind bars for his crimes, but he was let off without any jail time as part of a plea deal. The former cop was instead given two years probation and six months of community confinement. He was also ordered to pay back the total $363,000 in restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Jodrey criticized the deal, saying, “That’s not deterrence. That’s more like a court-approved, interest-free loan, courtesy of the American taxpayers.”
Johnson was the second Chicago police officer drawing attention for lapses in judgment. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was fired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot over “ethical lapses” and claimed he lied about an incident in October when he was found asleep at the wheel after having “a couple of drinks.”

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