2008 Woodie Awards
Athlete out on bail, known storyteller
Matthew Richardson
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
Florida A&M University student and football player Mike Johnson, who was arrested Feb. 22 and charged with two misdemeanors of filing a false police report and statement, has been released from Leon County jail with bail.
Johnson reported a robbery to the FAMU Police Department Feb. 19 in Gibbs Hall at approximately 5:10 a.m. Later, he admitted to authorities that he made up a story about a robbery and damaged his own dorm room to make it seem like a legitimate breaking and entering, stated the police report.
FAMU PD officer Angela Kirkland explained what led investigators to believe Johnson's claims were false.
"We looked at the evidence and we never received any additional witnesses, and that was strange," Kirkland said.
Johnson's story was that two gunmen threatened him. He also said three masked individuals vandalized his dorm room with markings stating "Mike + Football = Death."
Kirkland said FAMU PD investigated the crime immediately and Johnson confessed Friday during an interview.
"These (false reports) are uncommon," Kirkland said. "We've received reports before about a false incident, but not like this."
Johnson has not revealed his intentions behind reporting the false incident, but FAMU PD said his lying was a serious crime.
"We have other calls to tend to," Kirkland said. "It's a misdemeanor and he can get up to a year in prison."
Gibbs Hall resident Alfonzo Walker, freshman from Eustis, Fla. and football team member, said this was not the first time Johnson created false information.
"Since he's been here, crazy stuff has been happening to him, so I didn't know really what to think out of this," said Walker, 18. "I just figured he was hanging around with the wrong crowd. We've been here since the summer (2007), and being on the football team with all of us hanging together, nobody really came at us talking about don't play or they will rob us or anything like that."
Walker said according to Johnson, everything bad usually happened to him for some odd reason.
Johnson reported a robbery to the FAMU Police Department Feb. 19 in Gibbs Hall at approximately 5:10 a.m. Later, he admitted to authorities that he made up a story about a robbery and damaged his own dorm room to make it seem like a legitimate breaking and entering, stated the police report.
FAMU PD officer Angela Kirkland explained what led investigators to believe Johnson's claims were false.
"We looked at the evidence and we never received any additional witnesses, and that was strange," Kirkland said.
Johnson's story was that two gunmen threatened him. He also said three masked individuals vandalized his dorm room with markings stating "Mike + Football = Death."
Kirkland said FAMU PD investigated the crime immediately and Johnson confessed Friday during an interview.
"These (false reports) are uncommon," Kirkland said. "We've received reports before about a false incident, but not like this."
Johnson has not revealed his intentions behind reporting the false incident, but FAMU PD said his lying was a serious crime.
"We have other calls to tend to," Kirkland said. "It's a misdemeanor and he can get up to a year in prison."
Gibbs Hall resident Alfonzo Walker, freshman from Eustis, Fla. and football team member, said this was not the first time Johnson created false information.
"Since he's been here, crazy stuff has been happening to him, so I didn't know really what to think out of this," said Walker, 18. "I just figured he was hanging around with the wrong crowd. We've been here since the summer (2007), and being on the football team with all of us hanging together, nobody really came at us talking about don't play or they will rob us or anything like that."
Walker said according to Johnson, everything bad usually happened to him for some odd reason.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
L.A.
posted 2/27/08 @ 10:09 AM EST
I hope the university is also looking at ways to help this young man. It seems as if there maybe some deep rooted issues and putting him in jail for a year is not going to help him. (Continued…)
AW
posted 2/27/08 @ 2:57 PM EST
I completely agree. I kept reading this article hoping to see where the University offered some type of mental help for this kid.
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