Theft suspect avoids prison

SANDPOINT — The victims of a years-long embezzlement case said the criminal charges against their former friend and employee could have been avoided with one thing — honesty.

Larry Gerow, owner of Oldtown Family Foods, said Jasen W. Johnson could have spared everybody involved a lot of pain and humiliation if Johnson had been honest about his misconduct before the state became involved with the case.

Speaking at Johnson’s sentencing in 1st District Court on Monday, Gerow said they could have worked things out without the authorities getting involved.

“I would have forgiven him then as I have now,” Gerow said.

But Johnson didn’t come forward when the theft allegations surfaced. And under the terms of his plea, he is still allowed to assert his innocence.

Johnson, 50, had no comment before Judge Steve Verby agreed to adopt the terms of a binding plea agreement that effectively spared him a custodial sentence because of his costly health issues.

Johnson underwent a heart transplant in 1997 and undergoes kidney dialysis treatment three times a week. The defense said Johnson’s medical expenses are approximately $25,000 a month.

“If he’s incarcerated, that would be the obligation of the state of Idaho,” Verby said of Johnson’s medical costs.

Verby noted that it costs taxpayers between $22,000 to $25,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate who is in good health.

Johnson, a trusted store manager and friend of Gerow, was originally charged with grand theft for using his knowledge of the store’s accounting systems to skim thousands of dollars from 2002 to 2009.

A civil suit filed in the wake of the criminal charges alleged Johnson misappropriated as much as $439,000 dating as far back as the late 1990s.

Gerow contended the forensic evidence made it clear Johnson was behind the thefts. The pattern of thefts only occurred when he was on duty and the store’s information technology consultants confirmed that thefts were not perpetrated by a hacker or other outside party.

Johnson ultimately entered into mediation that resolved both the criminal and civil cases. The mediation produced a binding plea agreement that allowed Johnson to enter an Alford plea to attempted burglary.

The agreement called for a suspended one- to three-year sentence and five years of probation. The agreement also requires Johnson to put his Bonner County home up for sale. Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay back $106,000 in restitution, a sum that was mutually agreed upon in mediation.

Gerow called the case one of the most humiliating and humbling events in his life. But he said the worst discovery came when he and his wife, Maureen, began poring over store records from November 1997, when their daughter, Becky, was killed in an automobile accident.

Larry Gerow recalled Johnson telling him not to worry about the store and that he would take care of it while they grieved. They believed him without question.

“To our utter shock, when we examined those records, Jasen had stolen from us on those same days and continued his pattern of embezzlement,” Larry Gerow said.