Water board president Johnson arrested, faces charges
The district attorney's Public Integrity Unit arrested the president of a High Desert water agency today.
Phillip Terrence Johnson, 64, was taken into custody at his home in Landers and charged with two felony counts and one misdemeanor count of recording confidential communications, said Deputy District Attorney John Goritz.
Johnson is president of the Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency, which serves Flamingo Heights, Johnson Valley and Landers.
Phillip Terrence Johnson, 64, was taken into custody at his home in Landers and charged with two felony counts and one misdemeanor count of recording confidential communications, said Deputy District Attorney John Goritz.
Johnson is president of the Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency, which serves Flamingo Heights, Johnson Valley and Landers.
After an investigation that lasted more than two months, investigators
identified three occasions when he is alleged to have improperly
recorded conversations, though Goritz declined to provide details about
those instances.
On Nov. 28, 2006, he allegedly recorded a closed session of the agency's board without the knowledge of the others in the meeting.
On Oct. 16, 2007, he reportedly recorded the agency's lawyer's interviews with potential witnesses in a personnel matter, though Johnson was not present at the time, Goritz said.
On June 6, 2007, Johnson allegedly recorded a telephone conversation with one of the agency's employees.
That employee was not the subject of the Oct. 16 interviews, Goritz said.
Goritz said closed sessions are supposed to be confidential. Recording them without anyone's knowledge is "very improper" and "interferes with the proper conduct of that board," he said.
Johnson was being held at the Morongo Basin Jail in Joshua Tree on $25,000 bail.
Each felony charge carries a sentence of 16 months to three years in prison, and the misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to one year in jail.
On Nov. 28, 2006, he allegedly recorded a closed session of the agency's board without the knowledge of the others in the meeting.
On Oct. 16, 2007, he reportedly recorded the agency's lawyer's interviews with potential witnesses in a personnel matter, though Johnson was not present at the time, Goritz said.
On June 6, 2007, Johnson allegedly recorded a telephone conversation with one of the agency's employees.
That employee was not the subject of the Oct. 16 interviews, Goritz said.
Goritz said closed sessions are supposed to be confidential. Recording them without anyone's knowledge is "very improper" and "interferes with the proper conduct of that board," he said.
Johnson was being held at the Morongo Basin Jail in Joshua Tree on $25,000 bail.
Each felony charge carries a sentence of 16 months to three years in prison, and the misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to one year in jail.
Leave a comment