Former Glenwood City school superintendent charged with 17 felonies
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TIM JOHNSON
by LeAnn R. Ralph
HUDSON — Former Glenwood City school superintendent Tim Johnson has been charged with 17 felonies related to payments he received for classes he had not taken at Viterbo University as well as other fraudulent activity.
St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson filed the criminal complaint in St. Croix County Circuit Court on Friday, October 18.
Johnson is scheduled for an initial appearance in St. Croix County Circuit Court on November 21 at 1 p.m. before Judge Scott Nordstrand.
Johnson is charged with one felony count of theft of over $100,000; two felony counts of money laundering; seven felony counts of forgery; and seven felony counts of misconduct in office.
Theft
According to the criminal complaint, the felony count of theft of over $100,000 is related to the receipt of payments based on fraud, including accepting stipends for $125,000 for higher education that Johnson never completed; $75,515 in fraudulent reimbursements for course work that Johnson never completed; a payment of $38,426 for the special education administrator position for which Johnson was not licensed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; and $51,035 in “alternative benefits” to which he was not entitled.
All together, the amount that Johnson is alleged to have defrauded the Glenwood City school district is $290,792.
The theft of over $100,000 is a Class F felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of a fine of up to $25,000 and/or a prison sentence of 12 years and six months.
Money laundering
One of the felony counts of money laundering is related to knowingly receiving payments from the school district that were based on forgeries and misconduct in public office that included $43,750 in stipends for higher education during the last three quarters of 2020 and for all four quarters of 2021, along with $12,950 in reimbursements for courses never taken for a total of $56,700, according to the criminal complaint.
The second felony count of money laundering is related to Johnson knowingly organizing and authorizing fraudulent payments to himself from March 5, 2020, to June 30, 2023.
Money laundering is a Class G felony, and upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of a fine of up to $25,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 10 years on each count.
Forgery and misconduct
The seven counts of forgery are alleged to have occurred December 1 to 18, 2018; March 1 to March 28, 2019; August 1 to August 22, 2019; November 1 to 7, 2019; March 16 to April 2, 2020; August 1 to 19, 2020; and December 1 to 3, 2020.
Forgery is a Class H felony that carries a possible penalty, upon conviction, of a fine of up to $10,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to six years on each count.
The seven counts of alleged misconduct in public office are related to making false records for the same dates on which the forgeries were alleged to have occurred.
Misconduct in office is a Class I felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of a fine of up to $10,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to three years on each count, according to the criminal complaint.
Probable cause
The probable cause in the criminal complaint is based on law enforcement reports by Glenwood City Police Chief Joel Klatt and the forensic audit report completed by Eric Stephens of Intellex Forensics Advisory Services.
By analyzing Tim Johnson’s paystubs, expense vouchers, contracts, transcripts and reimbursement claims, Intellex formed the following opinion “While serving as District Administrator of GCSD, Tim Johnson fraudulently submitted 15 vouchers and received 17 reimbursement payments from GCSD totaling $75,515 for graduate courses he falsely claimed to have completed. Simultaneously, he received $125,000 in stipends which were intended to offset the cost of graduate courses. Further, he approved payment for these expense vouchers himself.
“Additionally, Tim Johnson fraudulently represented and posed as a licensed Special Education administrator by providing fraudulent Viterbo documentation he created. He then submitted this fraudulent documentation to further enrich himself in the amount of $38,462.
“Finally, without any basis, Tim Johnson received $51,815 paid as an alternative benefit. There is no supporting documentation, contractual terms, or any other evidence substantiating these payments.”
Packerland
By analyzing Packerland Brokerage Services Investment statements, Intellex formed the following opinion regarding the compliance of investments in accordance with Wisconsin State Statutes: “While serving as district administrator and district accountant, respectively, both Tim Johnson and Ron Johnson negligently placed $349,650 of GCSD’s funds into a Packerland portfolio managed by Tim Obermueller. These funds were then used to invest in individual stocks and mutual funds, primarily composed of stocks which do not meet the specifications of Wisconsin statute 66.0603.”
By analyzing Ron Johnson’s paystubs and contracts for the 2016-2017 school year through the 2022-2023 school year, Intellex formed the following opinion on the total amount of performance stipends he received as compensation that were not included in his contract: “While serving as the district accountant, Ron Johnson inappropriately received $17,500 in performance stipends that were not contractually agreed-upon nor approved by the GCSD school board.”
Police chief
The criminal complaint also contains reports by Glenwood City Police Chief Joel Klatt.
On January 16, 2024, Police Chief Klatt had received a telephone call from Patrick Olson, the current district administrator for the Glenwood City school district.
Tim Johnson resigned from his position in May of 2023. His resignation was effective on June 30, 2023, at the end of the school year.
Olson said he wanted to speak to the police chief about an internal investigation conducted by the school district pertaining to the previous superintendent’s financial records. The school district had hired an attorney who had evidence that the attorney wanted to show to law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint.
Police Chief Klatt said he would set up a meeting between Olson, the police chief, the school district’s attorney, Trevor Helmers, and St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson.
The police chief met with Patrick Olson on January 16 and January 17, 2024, to discuss the fraud allegations that Olson believed had been perpetrated by the former superintendent, according to the criminal complaint.
Olson said that at the time Johnson had started to submit transcripts for classes at Viterbo University in 2012, the transcripts appeared to be authentic.
Olson said he also had attended Viterbo, and the initial transcripts Johnson submitted matched the appearance of the transcripts that Olson had received from Viterbo.
In 2013, the transcripts that Johnson began handing into the school district appeared significantly different from the authentic transcripts, Olson told the police chief.
The transcripts appeared to have been written in a Word document and had copied older transcripts but with different class names, according to the criminal complaint.
Police Chief Klatt reported that he had been shown examples of authentic transcripts and the transcripts Johnson had started to submit to the school district, and it appeared that Johnson’s transcripts had been written in a regular Word document by someone attempting to copy an authentic transcript. The format and the font were different.
Olson told the police chief that between 2013 and 2021, Johnson had been reimbursed for about $81,000 for classes that Olson did not believe Johnson had taken at Viterbo, according to the criminal complaint.
Transcripts
Olson also told Police Chief Klatt that Olson had given Tim Johnson two chances to allow the Glenwood City school district permission to obtain Johnson’s transcripts through Viterbo before the school district turned the case over to law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint.
Five days before the final deadline, Olson said, he received a letter through the school district’s lawyer stating that Johnson had retained a criminal defense lawyer and had placed $44,000 into a trust that Johnson would turn over to the school district if the school district agreed that “any claims involving payment matters are deemed settled, and the District will not contact Tim regarding any employment matters once payment is made. Additionally, the District will not pursue further action, whether civil or criminal, and will provide no assistance in any potential civil or criminal action. We’d also like a privacy clause so that nothing is shared by the district, its employees or board members,” according to the criminal complaint.
Olson told the police chief that he and the Glenwood City school board had talked about Johnson’s offer but had ultimately decided that the school district could not accept the offer.
Olson also talked about concerns regarding Ron Johnson and Ron Johnson receiving a $15,000 “overpayment” while Tim Johnson was superintendent.
All of the documents and information that had been gathered so far were forwarded to the police department on the afternoon of January 17, 2024, and the documents had been attached to Police Chief Klatt’s report, according to the criminal complaint.
The police chief’s report notes that on January 18, he requested copies from Olson of e-mail messages Amy Dopkins had received from Viterbo’s business office. The e-mail chain was included with the report. Most of the e-mails appeared to be Dopkins attempting to get confirmation from Viterbo University that Johnson either did or did not attend classes during the years in question. Viterbo denied a response, according to the criminal complaint.
Johnson’s attorney
Police Chief Klatt received a request on February 6, 2024, from Tracey Wood, Tim Johnson’s lawyer, that she wanted to meet with the police chief to discuss the case.
The police chief noted that he had e-mailed her back and said if Johnson wanted to give a statement at the police department, he was welcome to do that, according to the criminal complaint.
Wood also asked the police chief to arrange it so that Johnson would not be arrested if charges were filed, but rather, that a summons would be ordered.
Police Chief Klatt reported he had told Wood that when his report was completed, it would be sent to the St. Croix County District Attorney for consideration of possible charges. A copy of Wood’s letter to the DA’s office would be included with the police chief’s report, according to the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint also notes that Olson had asked the police chief for guidance on the subject of the $43,760 in funds that Johnson had offered with the stipulation that the school district not cooperate with law enforcement on the matter of Tim Johnson.
After speaking with the St. Croix County district attorney’s office, the police chief advised Olson that the school district could accept the funds, and Police Chief Klatt subsequently learned the school district had accepted the $43,760, according to the criminal complaint.
Viterbo transcripts
On March 1, 2024, Police Chief Klatt received the return from Viterbo, and on March 4, the police chief gave the information to Patrick Olson to assist in the investigation of the return information, according to the criminal complaint.
The information revealed that Tim Johnson had falsely claimed reimbursement for classes he said he had taken at Viterbo from the 2012-2013 school year to the 2020-2021 school year. The fraudulent reimbursements added up to $80,965.
During the time that Tim Johnson served as principal in the Glenwood City school district and then as superintendent, he was paid a total of $98,280 in reimbursements for classes he claimed to have taken at Viterbo. Out of the $98,280, it was determined that $11,085 was accurate according to the information from Viterbo, the criminal complaint states.
During the time period in question, it was also determined that Johnson had turned in to the Glenwood City school district a total of 15 fraudulent document claims that he had registered and paid for classes at Viterbo. There were also 15 receipts for payment to Johnson for the 15 false registration forms, according to the criminal complaint.
Spec ed director
Patrick Olson also advised Police Chief Klatt that in 2015, Johnson had told the school board he held a certification through the state of Wisconsin for curriculum as well as holding a Special Education Director license.
Johnson did not possess either certification, but he told the school board he did have the certification to convince the board that instead of hiring someone to fill the state-required position, he could act as the Special Education Director and Pupil Services Director, according to the criminal complaint.
Johnson was paid an additional performance stipend of $44,020 in 2015. At the time of Police Chief Klatt’s report, Patrick Olson was not yet able to verify that payment was made to Johnson for the performance stipend for Special Education Director and Pupil Services Director.
A copy of the memorandum from Tim Johnson to Tim Johnson congratulating himself on the performance stipend for his newly assigned duties was available, though, according to the criminal complaint.
Included with the memorandum was an expense voucher signed by Tim Johnson on July 6, 2015, in the amount of $44,020.
Patrick Olson explained to the police chief that the reason he had not yet been able to verify that the expense voucher had been paid was because at the same time the school district had assigned additional duties to Johnson, Johnson also had sent out a memorandum to “Employees and Former Employees of the School District of Glenwood City Participating in the Health Reimbursement Account” saying that the health reimbursement account was being terminated.
Olson explained that the HRA had been determined to be illegal, and employees were given a payout. All of the employees had chosen to put the money into a retirement account, except for Johnson, who wanted a cash payout, according to the criminal complaint.
Johnson’s payout was to be $44,020, and Olson had been unable to verify if Johnson was paid $88,040, was paid $44,020, or was paid nothing, but that he believed the two payouts were connected somehow since the numbers were the same.
Police Chief Klatt also received the e-mail message that Johnson’s attorney had given to the school district with the $43,000 check and the explanation of the amount. Some of the numbers matched the reimbursements Johnson received and some did not. The e-mail message would be attached to the police chief’s report.
“The school district has decided not to cash the check at the time of this report [March 5, 2024],” according to the criminal complaint.
