Jack Johnson To Be Arraigned Tuesday

Former County Executive Jack Johnson will be arraigned today at the U.S. Courthouse in Greenbelt at 1:45 p.m. for charges stemming from a pay-to-play scandal that persisted throughout his time in office.

Johnson will enter a formal plea before a federal judge on an eight-count indictment, which details events as far back as 2003. According to the indictment, Johnson conspired with Amrik Singh Melhi—who owned liquor stores throughout Maryland—commercial and residential developers, other public officials and candidates to accept bribes in exchange for Johnson and other public officials to perform favorable actions that benefitted Melhi, developers and businesspeople.

The indictment alleges part of the conspiracy was to conceal campaign contributions and that Johnson and other state and local officials concealed receipts of the excess contributions by failing to report them.

Johnson, whose term as county executive ended in 2010, faces a maximum sentence of five years for the conspiracy, a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of three counts of interference with commerce by extortion. He also faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of three counts of bribery involving the agent of a program receiving federal funds and 20 years in prison for witness and evidence tampering.