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Memphis police charge man with shooting security officer in the head www.privateofficer.com
Memphis TN June 1 2012 Police on Wednesday charged an 18-year-old Memphis man in the shooting of a security guard one week earlier at an apartment complex in the Parkway Village area.
Investigators charged Bernard Johnson with attempted first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. Johnson was held in Shelby County Jail on $2.5 million bond.
About 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the security guard, 41, was shot in the head at the Camelot apartments, according to police. Officers found the guard, who works for Central Defense, on the ground by a security booth at Camelot and Ashwood.
His gun, a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, was stolen in the attack, according to a court affidavit filed by investigators. Police initially reported that three men may have been involved in the crime.
The victim identified Johnson as the man who shot him in the head, and Johnson confessed to taking the guard’s gun after the shooting, according to the court document.
Former Mobile principal charged with stealing from school www.privateofficer.com
Former Mobile principal charged with stealing from school http://www.privateofficer.com
The former principal of Booker T. Washington Middle School has been indicted on a first-degree theft of property charge accusing him of stealing more than $68,000 from the school and funneling at least some of that money through a church he pastored, authorities said.
Bernard Johnson, 43, surrendered to police early Wednesday morning after being indicted in secret by the Mobile County grand jury on Friday.
He was released on a $7,500 bond.
Johnson’s alleged thefts were turned up by the Mobile County Public School System during a routine audit, said Nicki Patterson, chief assistant district attorney. The school system then notified District Attorney John Tyson Jr.’s office, which completed the investigation, Patterson said.
Asked for comment on his client’s charges, Johnson’s attorney, Arthur Madden, said, “In keeping with my standard practice, I have no comment.”
Johnson resigned as principal of the school in February after being put on administrative leave when the audit turned up “financial irregularities.”
At the time of that investigation, Johnson was still pastor of Stewart Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, a prominent congregation in north central Mobile.
A public records request made by the Press-Register after Johnson was placed on administrative leave from the principal position showed that, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 11, 2007, Johnson signed five Washington Middle checks worth a total of $25,375 that were made out to Stewart Memorial C.M.E. Church. On Oct. 16 he repaid the full amount from his personal checking account, according to the records.
That inquiry by the Press-Register only partially pulled the curtain back on Johnson’s behind-the-scenes actions, Patterson said.
The District Attorney’s Office investigation found that Johnson stole more than $68,000 from the school, only part of which was funneled to his church, Patterson said.
Part of the money was put into his church,” Patterson said. “But we also allege that a good portion of the money just vanished into his own hands.”
And the money that was returned to the school was only returned after the investigation was well under way, Patterson said.
“It’s kind of like shoplifting and getting caught and offering to return what you took,” she said
Patterson said $43,175.50 taken by Johnson was not repaid.
Johnson became pastor of Stewart Memorial in 2006, but, according to Patterson, no longer heads the congregation.
“My understanding is that the church hierarchy moved him to Texas,” she said.
Calls to Stewart Memorial were not returned Wednesday afternoon.
Johnson advanced quickly through the ranks of the school system. He began as a sixth-grade language arts teacher in 2000. But by 2004 he was on his way to becoming administrator, entering the administrative intern program in 2004. In 2006, he got an assistant principal job, which he held for only a year before taking over the head position at Booker T. Washington.
He was only principal for one semester, earning a salary of $78,875, before stepping down and working again as a teacher.
Johnson was put on administrative leave with pay in May of his year, according to school system spokeswoman Nancy Pierce. As of the time of the indictment his status was unchanged.
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