Embezzler faces arrest

SANDPOINT — A $10,000 bench warrant was issued Thursday for an Oldtown man convicted of embezzling from his employer.

Jasen W. Johnson is accused of falling behind on restitution payments in his case. He was ordered to court to discuss the payment lapses, but did not appear for the hearing in 1st District Court.

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank said it was unclear if Johnson received the certified-mail hearing notices at his last known address. They were returned unsigned.

It’s also unclear if he’s fled the area or simply moved without advising Idaho Department of Correction officials.

Judge Charles W. Hosack held that Johnson’s failure to make the monthly restitution payments is a probation violation and issued the warrant, court records show. Hosack said Johnson can be released on his own recognizance if he presents himself before the warrant is executed.

Johnson, 51, was accused of misappropriating as much as $439,000 from Family Foods in Oldtown, where he was the grocery store’s longtime manager. He was charged with committing the thefts from 2002 to 2009, but store owners suspected the thievery stretched as far back as the late 1990s.

Johnson entered into mediation which resolved his criminal case and a civil suit brought by the store’s owners. He entered a plea to a reduced charge of attempted burglary and was ordered to pay $106,000 in restitution via monthly payments of $100.

Johnson entered a plea under a provision of the law in which a defendant does not acknowledge guilt, but admits the state has enough evidence to gain a conviction. However, an Alford plea is treated no differently than a plea of guilt at sentencing.

Johnson escaped imprisonment due to health problems which would have cost taxpayers as much as $300,000 a year to incarcerate him — more than 10 times the annual cost to incarcerate a healthy inmate. Johnson underwent a heart transplant in 1997 and undergoes kidney dialysis three times a week.

Including interest, Johnson’s current restitution balance is $111,663, according to the Idaho Statewide Trial Court Record System. He has paid $1,474 since his sentence was imposed in 2012, ISTARS indicates.