Former councilman sentenced
by Bill Lodge - Advocate (excerpt)

Former Port Allen city Councilman Johnny L. Johnson Sr. on Thursday became the first person convicted in the FBI’s Operation Blighted Officials to avoid a federal prison sentence.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Johnson to a two-year term of probation that will include a six-month stay at a Baton Rouge halfway facility known as Ecumenical House.

Johnson pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to a charge that he used telephone lines in aid of racketeering. He also admitted he accepted $2,460 in tickets to a Bayou Classic football game in New Orleans in return for his promise to help executives of Cifer 5000 obtain municipal contracts for their garbage-can cleaning service.