Former Wisconsin Superintendent charged with theft of quarter million from district
(FOX 9)
GLENWOOD TOWNSHIP, Wis. (FOX 9) - The former superintendent of the Glenwood City School District, Tim Johnson, was charged this afternoon with 17 felonies for the theft of $290,000 from the district.
Johnson, 52, is charged with felony theft, forgery, money laundering, and misconduct in public office. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the charges November 21.
According to the criminal charges filed Friday afternoon by the St. Croix County District Attorney, Johnson forged 15 educational vouchers from December 2014 to May 2023, receiving $75,515 in reimbursements for courses he never took.
During the same time frame, Johnson allegedly collected $125,000 in stipends intended to "offset the cost of graduate courses never taken."
Johnson also claimed $38,462 in performance pay as the District’s Special Education Director when he didn’t have credentials as a Special Education Director.
A former substitute teacher, Amy Dopkins, first raised concerns when she noticed that Johnson was getting reimbursed for continuing education classes at Viterbo University in La Crosse, while also receiving an annual $25,000 stipend for continuing education. Why, she wondered, was he receiving both the stipend and getting reimbursements?
Curious, she made a public records request for Johnson’s submitted receipts. She noticed it didn’t contain Viterbo’s letterhead, course numbers, or other specifics in similar receipts. Johnson had signed the reimbursement checks to himself.
When FOX 9 talked to Johnson about his reimbursements two years ago, he described it as a "witch hunt," and declined any further comment. FOX 9 has reached out to Johnson for comment.
At the time, Glenwood City School District President Lisa Kaiser defended Johnson. Kaiser said she had seen transcripts in his "personal file" that reflected the course work. Both Johnson and Kaiser declined to provide the transcript.
In January, as FOX 9 first reported, the district’s new superintendent, Patrick Olson, asked for an investigation and a forensic audit of Johnson’s reimbursements, stipends, and compensation. The results of that audit were made public in August after Johnson had filed a court order preventing its release.