Tax charges against Johnson dropped

GREELEY – The Weld County District Attorney’s Office has decided to drop tax charges against dairy owner John Johnson.

The DA originally charged Johnson in March with three counts of filing a false tax return. The charges were based on discrepancies between the name and Social Security numbers for Johnson Dairy employees for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax years that appeared to reveal underreporting of the number of workers. Charges were filed against Johnson because he personally wrote or signed most of the employees’ paychecks.

However, the motion to dismiss filed last week stated that the ensuing investigation showed the discrepancies arose as new employees provided incorrect and varied information during different stages of the hiring process. The DA’s office concluded that while accounting errors had occurred, it could not prove that Johnson had knowledge of the incorrect information. The DA also pointed out that the dairy now plans to participate in the E-Verify employment-screening program.

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Johnson Dairy, once the largest dairy operation in the state, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.