James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGE REGARDING HIS OPERATION
OF A PROSTITUTION BUSINESS OUT OF AMARILLO

AMARILLO, Texas — John Allen Johnson, Jr. pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to a conspiracy charge relating to his operation of a prostitution business out of Amarillo, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Specifically, Johnson, 38, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to promote, manage, establish, and carry on and facilitate unlawful activity. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and restitution. Johnson, who is on bond, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Robinson on March 26, 2009.

According to documents filed in the case, from March 2000 to January 2007, Johnson and his co-defendant, Mark Alan Johnson, 41, formerly of Amarillo, participated in a conspiracy to use an interstate facility to further and perpetuate the interstate transportation of persons, both adults and minors, for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The “interstate facility” was a wire which was used to process and transmit charges made to customers’ credit cards for the services provided by the prostitutes.

As part of the conspiracy, cousins John Allen Johnson, Jr. and Mark Alan Johnson promoted their intrastate prostitution enterprise by advertising their numerous escort services in the yellow pages of phone books and on the internet, listing toll-free numbers for customers to call. The phones would ring at one of two locations in Amarillo — a residence at 1010 N. Florida and a business at 4415 S. Georgia, Suite 207. Prostitutes would be dispatched to the locations requested by the customer, both in and outside of Texas. In addition, it was part of the conspiracy that prostitutes would travel from Oklahoma to Amarillo to engage in prostitution.

The case is being investigated by the Amarillo Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Lamberson of the Amarillo, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting.

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