Boalsburg couple who owned failed bed & breakfast sentenced to prison. What to know
A Boalsburg couple who got in over their heads while operating a bed and breakfast were sentenced to prison for falsifying and concealing financial records during a bankruptcy proceeding.
John J. Johnson II, 73, was sentenced in March by U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann to 18 months in prison. He is incarcerated at the Clinton County Correctional Facility.
Kristina A. Johnson, 69, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison. She has until June 12 to report to the facility that’s chosen by the federal Bureau of Prisons. Brann recommended she serve her time at a minimum security prison camp in West Virginia.
Each were also sentenced to a year of supervision after their release and were ordered to complete 30 hours of community service within six months. They each pleaded guilty in November to a count of falsification of records in bankruptcy.
The Johnsons owned the Springfield House Bed & Breakfast on East Main Street, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Documents filed in that case showed they had a positive net worth on paper, but nearly all of it was tied up in real estate. They had only $3,000 cash on hand and no money in a checking account.
The bed and breakfast continued to operate as the Johnsons attempted to reorganize their debts. They were required to submit monthly operating reports, but federal prosecutors said the ones the Johnsons submitted included false information about bank activity and concealed the existence of a bank account.
Kristina Johnson argued the crime was the product of desperation and her crumbling financial situation as she tried to save her failing business that was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Defense attorney Donald F. Martino pointed to increasingly irrational decisions, such as shoplifting food from a grocery store and moving money from one bank account to another in a futile attempt to stay afloat.
Concealing a bank account during bankruptcy proceedings made the Johnsons’ bad situation significantly worse, Martino wrote in a memo sent to the judge.
“Ms. Johnson’s offense is the product of both an uncontrollable situation and extremely poor judgement (sic) 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.”
The Johnsons have been married for 42 years. They are the parents of retired NHL defenseman Jack Johnson, who played 19 seasons with six teams, including the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Columbus Dispatch reported in 2014 that Kristina Johnson borrowed at least $15 million against her son’s future earnings. He told the newspaper he was led astray by others and had cut off all contact with his family.
“I’d say I picked the wrong people who led me down the wrong path,” Johnson told The Dispatch at the time. “I’ve got people in place who are going to fix everything now. It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”