Attorney In Drug Smuggling Case Released On Bond

[Abrad]

CHICAGO -- A Chicago defense attorney accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs into Cook County Jail for one of his clients was released from custody Friday on a $10,000 signature bond.

Criminal Court Associate Judge Thomas J. Hennelly set the bond for Michael G. Johnson, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Johnson was slated to appear next at 11 a.m. July 6 in Indictment Court.

Michael G. Johnson, 58, was arrested by Cook County Sheriff’s investigators in an undercover sting Wednesday night after he accepted $350 cash and more than 25 grams of marijuana from an undercover officer posing as a friend of a jail inmate, according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
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Johnson was charged late Thursday with possession of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cocaine and conspiracy to bring drugs into a penal institution, the release said.

Johnson had allegedly verbally agreed to deliver the marijuana to a jail inmate he was representing in exchange for $350 cash, according to the release.

After Johnson’s arrest, officers searched his car and recovered 5 grams of marijuana and two pipes used for smoking cocaine in the trunk, 4 grams of marijuana under the front passenger seat, and a foil packet containing powder cocaine in the console, the release said.

The sting began after sheriff’s police officers assigned to the jail investigative team developed information that Johnson would be willing to bring drugs into the jail during attorney visitations, according to the release.