Former JoCo school board member released from prison after extortion conviction
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ronald Johnson left prison after serving six months for extortion charges.
- Conviction included blackmail threats and misconduct while on the school board.
- Facebook parody tied to ally's home triggered sheriff's office investigation.
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Sex, blackmail and local politics: The extortion trial of JoCo school board member Ronald Johnson
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Former Johnston County school board member Ronald Johnson has been released from prison after serving six months for extortion and obstruction of justice.
Johnson, 41, had been a rising star in the Republican Party before a Johnston County jury convicted him on Jan. 17 on charges of trying to blackmail a congressional candidate. Johnson was discharged Tuesday from Craggy Correctional Institution in Asheville after a judge had sentenced him to six to 17 months in prison.
Johnson had also received a suspended sentence and 30 months of probation. Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite removed Johnson from the school board and ordered the former Smithfield police detective to surrender his law enforcement license.
State records show Johnson is on parole until April 11, 2026.
Extortion, obstruction of justice convictions
Johnson was first elected to the school board in 2016 and was re-elected in November despite being under criminal indictment. He was fired by the Smithfield Police Department in 2022 on charges of “detrimental personal conduct.”
Johnson is suing Smithfield for firing him from the police force he had served for 17 years.
Johnson was accused of threatening to release compromising audio involving congressional candidate DeVan Barbour unless Barbour got a teacher they both knew to falsely deny that she was having an extramarital affair with Johnson.
During testimony, Johnson admitted he had extramarital affairs with three female school employees.
Johnson was also convicted of failure to discharge duties for secretly recording school board closed sessions and retaliating against a former friend by trying to get his special-needs children transferred to a different school.
Parody Facebook page created in Johnson’s name
After his removal from office, the school board chose Jeff Sullivan to fill the vacant seat.
Since late January, the Ronald Johnson’s Prison Cell Phone page, listed as a parody page on Facebook, has regularly posted barbed comments against people who helped convict Johnson.
The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office traced the Facebook account to the adult son of school board member Michelle Antoine. The investigation also determined the page was being operated at a residential IP address belonging to Michelle Antoine, who was one of Johnson’s allies.
Neither Antoine nor her son has been charged with a crime.
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Former JoCo school board member released from prison after extortion conviction."
