A youth who was in the news earlier as a teen who had been the first in his family to graduate from Brainerd High School and who found a patron willing to pay for his college education is set to plead guilty on Tuesday to a charge of selling crack cocaine.
Jumoke Johnson Jr., who turned 21 on Saturday, dropped out of Miles College in Alabama after one semester and has been back in trouble since.
Prosecutors said he faces five years or more in prison.
A plea agreement was reached after defense attorneys earlier sought to toss out evidence against Johnson. A federal magistrate declined to go along with the motion.
Attorney Hugh Moore claimed agents misled Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern in gaining authority to intercept phone calls from Johnson.
He said the order was entered on June 18, 2013, allowing calls and texts to be intercepted for a maximum of 30 days. He stated, "The government’s agent submitted a sworn statement that the interception of communications began not on or after June 18, 2013, but on June 1, 2013,' and he claimed that the interception on calls continued after the 30-day period.
Prosecutor Chris Poole said there was no deception involved.
Prosecutors said they intercepted numerous calls in which Johnson was discussing obtaining cocaine from suppliers.
They said he was arrested July 17, 2013, and placed in the back of a city police car. He asked to sit by a window and, on the way, he said he was hot and asked that the window be rolled down. Police said they afterward found several crack rocks where he had been sitting.
A federal agent testified that Johnson had threatened witnesses against him. DEA Agt. Jamie Hixson also said Johnson had two people at the workhouse beat up another man he believed was working against him.
He also said a witness told him he had seen Johnson shoot someone in the head.
Johnson was known to be a validated gang member at the time he took part in graduation ceremonies at Brainerd High. He was given a shortened sentence in General Sessions Court in May 2012 after pleading guilty to assault with the agreement he would soon head off to college.
Johnson pleaded guilty to domestic assault involving an attack on the mother of his child and assault against a fellow jail inmate.
As part of an agreement, several cases against him in Criminal Court were also dismissed based on the General Sessions Court pleas. They included a drug case, another assault and a criminal trespass. In the drug case, a co-defendant took responsibility for the drugs. In the assault case, the alleged victim did not want to prosecute.
In General Sessions Court, Johnson was given a sentence of 11 months and 29 days in the workhouse. It was suspended after Johnson served 180 days and upon his enrolling in college. Prosecutor Brett Alexander at the time said he was advised that a donor had come forward and offered to sponsor him at the college.