GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Two men were sentenced to federal prison for paying bribes to Rick Johnson, the former chairperson of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten announced Wednesday that Brian Pierce was sentenced to two years behind bars, while Vincent Brown was sentenced to just fewer than two years in prison.
Both men were also fined $25,000 and will each serve two years of supervised release.
Pierce, who is from Midland, and Brown, from Royal Oak, worked as lobbyists in Lansing. According to Totten, the pair did business together as Philip Alan Brown Consulting, LLC and Michigan Grower’s Consultants, LLC— lobbying on behalf of various businesses seeking operating licenses from the Medical Marijuana Licensing Board.
They admitted to paying Johnson a total of $40,000 between June 2017 and November 2018 and, at Johnson’s request, Pierce reportedly paid a Detroit stripper, who was having commercial sex with Johnson, a total of $2,000.
Totten’s office says Pierce and Brown made the payments to influence and reward Johnson in connection with his official duties on the board, including getting his help for their clients who applied for licenses to operate in the newly developing marijuana industry.
“Mr. Pierce and Mr. Brown deliberately bribed Rick Johnson for their own person gain,” Totten said. “As I’ve said before, public corruption is a poison to our democracy and shatters the people’s trust in public officials. My office will hold offenders accountable— whomever, whenever and wherever we find corruption and blatant disregard for the rule of law.”
Johnson was the chairperson of the board between May 2017 and April 2019.
In September, he was sentenced to about four and a half years in prison for accepting more than $110,000 in bribe payments while serving as chairperson.
“Public corruption is the top criminal investigative priority for the FBI,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan Cheyvoryea Gibson said. “I am thankful for the outstanding FBI personnel for their daily commitment to following the investigative facts wherever they lead, particularly in this case. My office continues to urge concerned citizens to report public corruption information they believe they may have.”
To do so, you can call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
