Crime Correspondent: Chattanooga

Maurice Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison

Maurice Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and will remain on supervised probation 10 more years after that following a sentencing hearing Monday in Chattanooga on a federal cocaine distribution guilty plea.The 38-year-old former Sweetwater High School basketball star pleaded guilty in April to one count of a multi-count indictment that charged him with running a major crack cocaine ring out of a Madisonville game room.Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Neff said Johnson tried to withdraw his guilty plea at the last minute, however Judge R. Allan Edgar ruled the defendant did not meet the criteria to be granted a plea withdrawal.Johnson’s criminal past bumped up the minimum sentence requirement on his latest conviction.“He had a federal felony drug conviction (in 2001) and that bumped it up from 10 to 20 years,” Neff said of the minimum sentence Johnson could serve.The court waived any major fines against Johnson because of his inability to pay but Johnson is to pay a $100 special assessment.<br />Johnson had gotten previous charges for the same alleged crimes dismissed last year because a judge ruled his right to a speedy trial had been violated.However, the judge’s ruling left the door open for prosecutors to revisit the Madisonville game room case.A federal grand jury indicted Johnson on the same charges again late last yearAuthorities said Johnson began running a crack cocaine ring out of the M & M Game Room and Deli on Tellico Street in Madisonville not long after his release from prison in 2005 on a drug conviction.Officers from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Madisonville and Sweetwater police departments arrested Johnson near I-75 on March 31, 2006.Police said Johnson tried to swallow drugs when the officer closed in.<br />Authorities contend Johnson’s drug operation was substantial.“The cost of drugs can vary,” then Sheriff Doug Watson said at the time. “But he was probably making about $36,000 a week selling crack cocaine.”Neff said there is no parole for federal sentences and Johnson would have to serve at least 85 percent, 17 years, of his sentence.Neff said prisoners serving federal sentences have a chance to meet good behavior and other criteria to reduce their term from 100 percent to 85 percent.<br />Johnson has a July 31 motions hearing pending on murder charges in Cleveland.<br />Johnson stands charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the 1999 shooting deaths of three people in a Cleveland apartment.Two other suspects are charged in connection with the fatal shootings.