Posted on 09/05/2010 8:32:08 PM PDT by anymouse
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His undercover work for the FBI over the last five years helped bust a string of public officials across Waller County who previously had evaded other probes, authorities said.
To date, a mayor, justice of the peace, public works director and two aldermen have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud taxpayers by soliciting kickbacks. Many believe more heads will roll as investigators try to end an apparent systemic culture of corruption that had infected this rural county west of Houston.
"Now I just want my life back," said Johnson, 47, who said he's lost nearly everything since taking his stand against corruption.
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Speaking publicly for the first time, Johnson said he's been blackballed by local governments who have canceled contracts and avoided hiring his once-thriving recycling and demolition company. He also faces foreclosure on his main property for $23,882 owed in back taxes, and all his heavy equipment has been repossessed.
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Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith calls Johnson "a hero." Elton Mathis, the district attorney, agrees: "He put himself on the line. I don't know many people who would want to create enemies in public office."
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"They said things like I'd be dead soon. Or that I had messed the black community up," said Johnson, since all the guilty officials are black.
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"I was terrified to see how deep it went," Johnson said. Charleston was later recorded saying, "We can own Waller County if we play these Negroes right."
Other "unnamed coconspirators" are cited in Charleston's indictment and other documents remain sealed, leading the Waller district attorney and others to speculate that more indictments will be coming.
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(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I don’t know much about Prairie View A&M except to note that on a visit there to officiate a sporting event, I have never met a group of students as polite and helpful as those I met there.
Are you sure you were at Prairie View A&M and not Texas A&M, about 100 miles farther up the road?
A commendable story about a commendable man.
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