Dr. Mirza Hussain Baig, 68, of Burtonsville was sentenced Thursday. Baig, a physician, was also ordered to pay a fine of $50,000 and to forfeit $250,000.

As part of the guilty plea last year, Baig acknowledged that from 2006 through at least October 2010 he was part of a conspiracy to bribe Johnson and other public officials in exchange for their assistance on various matters. Johnson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and began serving his sentence earlier this year.

Baig’s attorney, Paul Kemp, said in an e-mail that he and his client felt the judge’s sentence was fair.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Johnson is scheduled to begin serving his sentence Saturday on an extortion conviction.

Johnson was sentenced in December to more than seven years in prison for extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from developers and accepting assorted gifts.

Johnson was the county executive from 2002 until 2010. He and his wife, Leslie Johnson, were arrested in November 2010 as part of a sweeping corruption probe. Leslie Johnson was sentenced to one year and a day for obstructing an investigation into her husband’s corruption.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Johnson pleaded guilty in June to destroying evidence in a federal corruption probe that also ensnared her husband, former County Executive Jack Johnson. She was scheduled to be sentenced next week, but the hearing was delayed at the request of her attorney because of “scheduling conflicts.”

The new date is Dec. 9.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

According to the county board of elections, Derrick Leon Davis won Tuesday’s special primary election to fill Johnson’s District 6 seat. Davis, a former school system official and current chairman of the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, received 55 percent of ballots cast.

Johnson pleaded guilty in June to destroying evidence in a federal corruption probe that also ensnared her husband, former County Executive Jack Johnson. She could receive more than a year in prison when she’s sentenced on Oct. 13.

Fourteen Democrats and one Republican ran for Johnson’s seat.

Because Prince George’s is heavily Democratic, the winner of the Democratic primary usually wins the general election. Davis was backed by County Executive Rushern Baker and several Councilmembers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Mike Hellgren has the U.S. Attorney’s take on why these prosecutions are so critical.

“I’m very sorry for what happened,” Johnson said.

Their falls from grace have been stunning.  From Sheila Dixon to Thomas Bromwell and now Jack Johnson…all Maryland politicians who have lost their seats of power in disgrace.

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Johnson, the former Prince George’s County Executive, appears headed to federal prison for bribery and brazen tampering with evidence.  But the U.S. Attorney who brought him down says the fight against corruption isn’t over.

“Number one, it sends a message that there are federal investigators and prosecutors who can take on the challenge of prosecuting entrenched corruption,” Rosenstein said.

The feds spent years methodically building their case against Johnson, using wiretaps to expose a pay-for-play culture of corruption in one of Maryland’s largest counties.

Legal analyst Andrew Levy explains why federal prosecutions are so hard to fight.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say the resources of the federal government are virtually limitless,” Levy said.

Cases are still pending against Johnson’s wife, who’s still serving on the county council, and another powerful lawmaker, Senator Ulysses Currie.

“Government officials are less inclined to ask for kickbacks or accept kickbacks if they know someone is paying attention and monitoring this kind of activity,” Rosenstein said.

Johnson will be sentenced Sept. 15.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the re-arraignment for Johnson, accused of bribery and extortion, will take place Tuesday at noon in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. She did not give further details. 

A re-arraignment signifies that Johnson intends to plead guilty. 

Johnson was indicted in February on charges of extortion, bribery, witness and evidence tampering and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty and vowed to fight the charges. 

The indictment charges Johnson with accepting cash, campaign contributions and other gifts in exchange for helping developers secure millions of dollars in federal grant money. His wife, Leslie, a member of the county council, also faces charges in the case. 

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)