Former Corrections Officer Sentenced to Three Months in Jail and Six Months of Home Detention for Bribery Charge
Employee Took Cash to Smuggle Items into D.C. Jail

WASHINGTON—April Johnston, a former corrections officer, was sentenced today to three months in jail and six months of home detention for accepting money to bring contraband into a District of Columbia correctional facility, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Johnston, 42, pled guilty to a charge of bribery in March 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was sentenced by the Honorable Robert L. Wilkins. Upon completion of her jail time, she will be placed on two years of probation. Judge Wilkins also ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service. Johnston also is subject to a forfeiture judgment of $2,500.

According to the government’s evidence, at the time of the offense, Johnston was employed as a corrections officer for the District of Columbia Jail and had met with individuals inside the jail to discuss the possibility of smuggling contraband to an inmate. In September 2011, she made a telephone call to a person whom she believed was an associate of an inmate. In fact, however, that person was an undercover agent with the FBI.

Johnston met the undercover agent on September 28, 2011, at her residence in Maryland. During the meeting, the undercover agent paid her $1,000 and gave her a computer thumb drive to smuggle into the jail. She agreed to use her position as a corrections officer to smuggle the item to the inmate in return for the money, and she later did so.

On October 5, 2011, Johnston again met the undercover agent at her residence. This time, the agent paid her $1,500 along with a thumb drive and mobile USB flash drive to smuggle into the jail. Once again, she smuggled the items into the jail in return for the money.

Johnston is among three corrections employees convicted of bribery since December 2012. In December 2012, Daishawn Goodson, a former corrections officer employed by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), pled guilty to taking money to smuggle contraband into the District’s Correctional Treatment Facility. She was sentenced to eight months of home detention. In March 2013, Jeremiah Moorman, a former corrections officer, was found guilty of bribery and first-degree theft charges for accepting money under the promise of bringing contraband into the District of Columbia Jail. He was sentenced to two years of probation.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen and Assistant Director in Charge Parlave commended the work of the agents who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections Office of Investigative Services. Finally, they acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Nicole Wattelet and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B Waxman, who prosecuted the case.