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SALT LAKE CITY — St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson was released from federal prison nearly two years ahead of schedule last week apparently as part of a government effort to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In memos in late March and early April, Attorney General William Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to start identifying inmates who could safely be released to home confinement to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The letters instructed prison officials to grant releases to inmates deemed a minimal risk to the public.
“The rumors are true! So so so happy to be home,” Johnson posted on Facebook last Friday along with a photo of his wife and two daughters standing next to an airplane.
Nearly 400 people commented on the post, welcoming him home and wishing him well, including one who wrote that he thought Johnson had two years left in prison.
“I did but they let me out early due to coronavirus,” Johnson replied. “They are worried about the decline of gingers in the world and they don’t want me to get sick and die in prison.”
According to the Bureau of Prisons, Johnson transferred from a correctional facility in Safford, Arizona, to community confinement in a federal halfway house in Phoenix on May 20.
Community confinement means the inmate is in either home confinement or a halfway house, prison spokesperson Emery Nelson said in an email.
“For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not release information on an individual inmate’s conditions of confinement or release plans,” Nelson said.
Johnson, 44, is due to be released from federal custody on April 10, 2022.
A wealthy businessman and philanthropist, Johnson was convicted in 2016 of eight counts of making false statements, but a jury acquitted him of 78 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He was originally sentenced to 135 months in prison, but a federal judge reduced that to 87 months for the crimes related to his internet marketing company, iWorks.
Johnson appealed the new sentence last year, and a federal appeals court ruled against him in February.
Johnson was at the center of a public corruption case against former Utah Attorneys General Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow. Prosecutors ended up dropping charges against Shurtleff, while Swallow was acquitted. A key prosecution witness at Swallow’s trial, Johnson refused to testify.
