Air Force Vet Eddie Ray Johnson Sentenced for $1.1M Fraud

Former Air Force travel coordinator Eddie Ray Johnson Jr. has been sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for his scheme to steal more than $1.1 million in government funds using his government-issued credit card.

In Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm imposed the sentence on Johnson, who also faces three years of supervised release with home confinement for 12 months. Johnson was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service, pay a $15,000 fine, and make restitution totaling $1,157,540.69.

According to court documents, Johnson, 60, from Brandywine, Maryland, admitted using his position as travel coordinator in the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Legislative Liaison to obtain cash advances over a period of three years. He funneled at least $774,000 into personal accounts and spent the money on personal expenses such as a piano, motorcycle payments, and family vacations.

The plea agreement revealed that Johnson deposited stolen funds into a non-interest-bearing account at the Pentagon’s bank branch. He then wrote checks to himself, which he deposited into his personal accounts. Law enforcement recovered $15,174 in cash from Johnson’s residence during a search warrant executed on November 6, 2019, of which $4,000 was confirmed as proceeds from the offense.

United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron praised the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) for their roles in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dana J. Brusca and Elizabeth Wright were commended for their prosecution of the case.

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