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Longmont police are searching for a convicted sex offender who was due to be sentenced to three years in prison but failed to show up for the November hearing.
Marvin Louis Johnson, 45, of Lyons, helped fake a robbery on Dec. 1, 2006, at the Countrywood Inn, 1550 Main St. in Longmont, where he was a manager, according to police. Johnson, who was found face down on the floor with zip ties around his wrists after calling 911 that night, told police a man had come in, ordered him down at gunpoint and took money from the cash drawers, Longmont Cmdr. Tim Lewis said.
After more than a year of investigation, police determined Johnson had conspired with a friend to fake the robbery. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was supposed to be sentenced to three years in prison, plus two years of parole, Lewis said.
Johnson — who previously was convicted of sex assault on a child by a person in a position of trust — is described as a white man with blue eyes and gray hair, weighing 250 pounds and standing 5-foot, 5-inches tall. He used to live at 224 Seward St., Apt. A3, and goes by the alias Samuel Francis Steiner, according to police.
Posted by jazzwoman53 on December 4, 2008 at 12:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gee...three years in the slammer or hit the road...which would you choose? Why was he out while awaiting sentencing? Seems that once you are found guilty, you go straight to jail...don'tcha think?
Posted by super_boulder on December 4, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
2 dim bulbs for sure, but 5 years of big brother, 3 of them being in the pen? That seems rather harsh.
Why the mention of a prior sex offense? What does that have to do with these two playing cops and robbers with each other?
Posted by super_boulder on December 9, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
With these kind of laws and harsh prison sentences, we are going to bankrupt ourselves by fooling ourselves into thinking that jail is a deterrent. The only way jail is a deterrent for most people is once they are in jail. Certainly jail is one piece of the system, but we are really screwing ourselves with these lengthly sentences for things that could be handled in a much better way.
Is there really a difference in "rehabilitation", which yes I agree is just another word for prisoner warehousing, between a 5 year sentence and a 20 year sentence for something that someone screwed up on? Especially non-violent crimes? How on earth does that help anyone?
I think an interesting study would be to see if instead of talking about sentences in years and decades, if we talked about them in months and weeks. I would guess that for many cases, the system would end up incarcerating people for a lot less time and then we could free up money for true "rehabilitation". If they need to go back to school, I'd rather spend my 30k a year on a prisoner's rehabilitation and education instead of sitting in a room mentally torturing folks. Don't get me wrong, some people deserve what they get, but the whole justice system needs to be brought into the 21st century. This 18th century and prior situation we have now is just ludicrous. In so many cases it costs more lives and money then the original crime ever came close to touching. It is time to re-analyze these laws, sentencing and prisons.
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