Julian Jenkins was sentenced to three years probation, six months in home detention, and ordered to repay $300,000 to the Alabama two-year college system last week for aiding former two-year college chancellor Roy Johnson in obstructing justice.
It was revealed in court that Jenkins, a 77-year-old architect from Anniston, was instructed by Johnson to provide a fabricated $55,000 invoice for services at Johnson’s home in Opelika.
Jenkins, a very small player in the state’s two-year college corruption scandal, has now been tried and sentenced.
Johnson, arguably the largest player in the state’s two-year college corruption scandal, has not. It’s time the state’s court system did something to change that.
Johnson pleaded guilty to 15 federal charges in March of 2008. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced in August of that same year. His sentencing has since been rescheduled multiple times. The most recent date scheduled for this Friday.
But on Thursday, District Judge Karon O. Bowdre agreed to a motion of continuance — meaning Johnson, the former president of Southern Union State Community College, is instead scheduled to be sentenced in February 2010.
This has gone on long enough.
Simply, it’s time for Roy Johnson to be behind bars.
We take no pleasure in watching someone else’s downfall. It’s sad and many people in this community have felt the impact of this case and the corruption that led to the indictments and trials.
Johnson admitted he was a crook.
He deceived the college system he directed.
He deceived the taxpayers of this state.
And he benefited mightily from it.
Further delays in putting this man behind bars sends a bad message to others in this state, which continues to see its powerful, from mayors to governors to lawmakers to education officials like Johnson, caught in scandals.
Prosecution for those caught in public corruption cases should be much more swift and not continue to cost the state any further dollars than they already do — particularly for those who fed at the public trough.
The powerful should be held much more accountable than this.
Johnson should already be behind bars.
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