A former Selma firefighter was convicted Thursday for stealing from the volunteer department where he worked.
Bryan Johnson, 37, was convicted of first-degree theft of property and misapplication of property after a five-day trial in Dallas County. He will be sentenced January 21 by Dallas County Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway, Jr.
The jury deliberated about 90 minutes before convicting Johnson, whose first trial ended in a mistrial.
Johnson, of Selma, is facing up to 20 years in prison.
Bryan Johnson and his wife, former Dallas County EMA director Rhonda Abbott, were arrested in 2015 amid accusations they stole $20,000 from a local fire department. Johnson was a former lieutenant for the Selma-Dallas County Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad.
Abbott pleaded guilty last year to using her office for personal gain and received a 10-year suspended prison sentence with five years of probation.
“This ex-volunteer fireman stole more money than Jessie James,” Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said Friday. “He also violated the public trust placed in him. He was the mastermind of this stealing.”
“With the convictions of his wife, Rhonda Abbott, the ex- Dallas County EMA director and Bryan Johnson, a ranked officer with the Selma-Dallas County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, another sad chapter in public corruption in Dallas County is coming to a close.”
Selma police incident reports from April 2015 show the fire department called officers to report that a large sum of money was missing out of the group’s bank account and that several unauthorized purchases had been made online. Some of those online sellers had sent letters to the department referencing unpaid accounts.
There was also an unauthorized check written from the department’s account to Johnson for a $3,000 truck repair, the report said. When officers asked the manager whose name was signed to the check, the manager said the name written was not her signature. She also said she had no knowledge of the check.
In addition to the online purchases and check, the report stated, several Alabama Power and Charter-Spectrum bills had been paid from the department’s bank account in Abbott’s name. There were also multiple unauthorized purchases from Winn-Dixie and Walmart.
The police report said a sergeant talked to Johnson and when asked about the money, Johnson said, “Yeah I used some of the money intending to pay it back, but I got behind on some bills and wasn’t able to pay it back.”
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