Update: Southern Union scandal widens

Former Southern Union State Community College interim President Joanne Jordan agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to federal charges of obstruction of justice and a felony state ethics violation, according to a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Jordan is the latest in a string of top administrators from the college who have been allegedly involved in legal or ethical scandals.

Jordan’s obstruction of justice charges stem from her testimony to a federal grand jury in May 2006 as part of an investigation of the two-year college system and former two-year chancellor Roy Johnson, according to the release.

The date of a formal plea hearing for Jordan has not been set by the U.S. District Court. The penalty for federal charges of obstruction of justice is a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison, or both.

According to the U. S. Attorney’s office release, the false testimony before the federal grand jury concerns two questions:

- whether Johnson had told her to pay a false invoice for the retirement buyout of the SUSCC Dean of Nursing;

- and why she had decided to hire Johnson’s son-in-law as an attorney from December 2003 to May 2006.

Jordan testified falsely that Johnson had not instructed her to pay the fraudulent invoice, the release states.

Jordan was acting SUSCC president from July 2002 to June 2006 and reported directly to Johnson during his tenure as chancellor. Jordan began working at SUSCC in 1966 as a biology instructor and worked under Johnson when he was president of SUSCC.

The release also states the dean was promoted to the position by Johnson and “had a close relationship” with him. The dean’s name is not provided in the release and was not known by a U. S. Attorney spokesperson.

Johnson sent the invoice to Jordan and told her to approve it, according to Jordan’s lawyer, Bernard Harwood Jr., of the Rosen Harwood law firm in Tuscaloosa.

“He had the invoice sent to her, but she, as president, had to approve it,” Harwood said. “He told her to approve it.”

The release also states, Jordan testified falsely that she had hired Johnson’s son-in-law as an attorney on her own initiative without direction from Johnson.

Jordan later recanted both statements to the U. S. Attorney’s office, according to Harwood.

“Upon further questioning, she did supply a full and accurate description of the circumstances surrounding both of those incidents,” Harwood said Thursday.

When asked why Jordan made the false statements, Harwood could not comment, but did note, “Factually, she was the president of Southern Union and Roy Johnson was the chancellor. Someone could assume she felt a degree of loyalty toward him.”

Jordan also agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to a state ethics violation in connection to allegedly receiving free services from December 2003 to May 2006 from an architect who had also worked for the college, according to the release.

“After learning of the federal investigation, Jordan paid the architect approximately $3,500 for services rendered to her,” the release states.

According to Harwood, Jordan was planning to build a house at Lake Martin when the architect volunteered to help her.

“She got plans from a magazine (and the) architect helped her expand on it,” Harwood said. “The architect services were of short duration.”

In Johnson’s plea agreement he agreed “to forfeit approximately $18 million for his illegal activity relating to the post-secondary colleges,” according to Thursday’s release. Prosecutors have alleged that Johnson and his family pocketed about $1 million of the $18 million to be paid back.

In connection to the federal charges against Jordan, Harwood said, “Not a dime of any money ever went into Dr. Jordan’s pocket.”

Attempts to reach Jordan by telephone Thursday were unsuccessful.

The U.S. Attorney’s office announced Jan. 24 that Johnson had agreed to plead guilty to 15 federal charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, obstruction, witness tampering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Former SUSCC President Susan Salatto was placed on paid leave Jan. 10 after an investigation of the college found 20 policy violations, citing “extraordinarily poor management.” The Alabama Board of Education voted unanimously to fire Salatto Jan. 24.