ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A married pair of top officials in a Maryland county is accused of tampering with evidence after FBI agents said they recorded the husband telling his wife to flush a $100,000 check from a real estate developer down the toilet and to stuff almost $80,000 in cash in her underwear.
Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson, whose second term expires next month, and his wife, Leslie, who was recently elected to the County Council, were charged with witness and evidence tampering and destruction, alteration and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
The charges grew out of a 5-year-old investigation into allegations of real estate developers in the county offering rewards to county officials in exchange for personal and business favors.
In an affidavit filed in federal court, FBI agents wrote that they recorded a mobile phone conversation between the Johnsons after agents went knocking on their door.
After Johnson told his wife, “Don’t answer it,” he instructed her over the phone to go upstairs to their bedroom and destroy the check, the affidavit said.
“Tear it up! That is the only thing you have to do,” Johnson told his wife, according to the affidavit
