A Boalsburg couple have been sentenced to prison for falsifying records during bankruptcy proceedings as they attempted to keep their failing bed and breakfast afloat.
Kristina A. Johnson, 69, was sentenced on May 13 to 15 months of federal confinement and will be required to report to a designated prison by June 12. U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania Judge Matthew Brann recommended that she serve her sentence at a federal prison camp in West Virginia.
Her husband, John J. Johnson II, 73, was sentenced in March to 18 months in prison. Brann recommended his sentence be served at the federal prison in Lewisburg.
Both will be subject to one year of supervised release following imprisonment.
The Johnsons entered guilty pleas in November.
According to prosecutors, the couple continued to operate the Springfield Bed & Breakfast after the business filed for bankruptcy in 2022 as they attempted to reorganize their debts. As part of the proceedings, they were required to submit monthly operating reports to the bankruptcy court.
Those statements, however, included false information about bank activity and concealed a account that had not been disclosed to the court.
In a sentencing memorandum for Kristina Johnson that sought a maximum sentence of one year, defense attorney Donald Martino described the actions as a desperate attempt to save a business that began to crumble during the COVID-19 pandemic and spiraled out of control.
Martino wrote that as the financial problems escalated, the Johnsons stole food and other items for the bread and breakfast and attempted “to move money from one bank account to another to find money where none existed,” ultimately withholding information from the bankruptcy court, which “made a bad situation significantly worse.”
“Ms. Johnson’s offense is the product of both an uncontrollable situation and extremely poor judgement resulting in criminal levels of theft and fraud,” Martino wrote. “As with most people in an untenable financial situation, Ms. Johnson felt desperate and demonstrated she was willing to do anything to attempt to save her business and her own finances.
“Unfortunately, Ms. Johnson took these efforts to an extreme that most people do not in that she ultimately committed a Federal offense. Ms. Johnson has and will continue to take full responsibility for that choice.”
Kristina and John Johnson II are the parents of former NHL player Jack Johnson. The younger Johnson filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after his parents reportedly borrowed $15 million against his future earnings. He said he had no knowledge of their spending and severed his relationship with the couple, but declined to pursue charges against them.
