Philly Councilman Kenyatta Johnson indicted by feds on corruption charges

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• Ryan Briggs/WHYY
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  Ryan Briggs is an investigative journalist who has covered politics, criminal justice and government policy since 2011. He has worked as a staff reporter for Next City, the Philadelphia City Paper, Philly.com and City & State PA, while contributing stories to a variety of other news outlets as a freelancer, including WHYY.

(Philadelphia) — Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia handed down a criminal indictment on Wednesday against City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson and his wife, political consultant Dawn Chavous.

The result of a five-year-long probe, the indictment alleges a tangled quid pro quo involving Johnson, Chavous’ consulting firm, and Universal Companies, a prominent nonprofit developer and charter-school operator founded by music producer Kenny Gamble, who was not charged.

Prosecutors allege Universal offered Chavous work in return for her husband’s help in getting zoning changes to redevelop the Royal Theater on South Street in 2014.

In addition to Johnson and Chavous, the indictment names Abdur Rahim Islam and Shahied Dawan, the CFO of Universal, as defendants in the case, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. Both are scheduled to surrender later in the week. The indictment also ties the defendants to an $11 million scheme to expand Universal’s charter school operations to the city of Milwaukee.

Johnson and Chavous are expected to plead not guilty. Pre-empting the indictment, the three-term Democrat issued a statement yesterday calling himself “a victim of overzealous federal prosecutors.” The Second District councilman has indicated that he will not resign his post over the criminal charges.

Johnson is now the second sitting lawmaker facing federal charges — an ignominious state of affairs that hasn’t been seen in City Council since the 1980s. The indictment comes almost a year to the day after prosecutors charged Councilmember Bobby Henon and members of the Local 98 electricians union for misusing union funds, among other offenses.

The indictment lands just weeks into Johnson’s third term in office representing South Philadelphia’s 2nd District. He was elected as a Pennsylvania state representative in 2008, before making his run for Council in 2011. He has survived Democratic challenges in his last two elections.

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WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.