Read: Search warrants from extortion investigation into Johnston school board member
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Sex, blackmail and local politics: The extortion trial of JoCo school board member Ronald Johnson
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Search warrants in the investigation into Johnston County school board member Ronald Johnson reveal new details leading up to his recent indictment.
Johnson, a Republican on the school board and former Smithfield police detective, is charged with extortion, felony obstruction of justice and willfully failing to discharge his duties. The new details appear in the investigator’s application for a warrant to search Johnson’s Clayton home, his Dodge Challenger and his personal possessions.
Johnson has been censured by the school board twice for secretly recording conversations during closed-session meetings and also for sending texts commenting on the physical appearance of female employees.
The warrants concern the extortion allegations.
Johnson’s attorney, Walter Schmidlin, declined to comment on the case Wednesday. Johnson continues to serve on the board, participating in meetings as recently as Tuesday.
Other people whose names are found in the warrant, including former Congressional candidate DeVan Barbour, declined to comment to The News & Observer.
Read the document here. Personal information, such as phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses, have been redacted.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Read: Search warrants from extortion investigation into Johnston school board member."
