New Bern Resident Sentenced in Bank Fraud Investigation

RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court on July 7, 2011, United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced STEVEN GLENN JOHNSON, 41, of New Bern, North Carolina, to 16 months’ imprisonment followed by four years of supervised release. The court gave seven months credit for time that JOHNSON has served on unrelated charges. The court also ordered JOHNSON to pay $2,635.41 in restitution to victims.

On October 27, 2010, a federal grand jury returned a 16-count indictment charging JOHNSON. He was arrested on November 3, 2010. On March 14, 2011, JOHNSON pled guilty to a one-count criminal information for bank fraud.

In May, 2009, the Treasury Department, Office of Inspector General, Washington, D.C., received correspondence from the Treasury Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) regarding incidents wherein JOHNSON created fraudulent checks totaling approximately $1 million and attempted to withdraw funds from the BPD’s Treasury Direct Program utilizing a BPD bank routing number.

Treasury Direct is a web-based system that allows investors to purchase a full range of Treasury securities without paying brokerage fees via an online Internet account. JOHNSON allegedly wrote fictitious Treasury checks to obtain cash from a local bank, purchase a vehicle, and pay child custody payments to the State of North Carolina.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wilmington, NC, and the Treasury Department, Office of Inspector General, Washington, D.C.