U.S. Interior official guilty of kickbacks

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Interior Department official says he accepted $15,000 in kickbacks in part because he had to pay his child's private school bills.

Edgar Johnson, 60, of Bowie, Md., pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington to charges of accepting kickbacks from representatives of an unnamed New Jersey firm looking to sell insurance to government agencies, The Washington Post reported.

Court documents indicate Johnson told prosecutors he needed the cash on top of his $121,000 year salary in his position at Interior's Office of Insular Affairs because he was struggling to pay private school tuition for one of his children and that he was looking to "maintain his lifestyle" after his retirement, the Post said.

A police informant -- a former fraternity brother of Johnson's -- introduced Johnson to the would-be contractors, prosecutors alleged, who said the Interior official agreed to receive a 10 percent cut of the proceeds from a contract he promised to arrange in the Virgin Islands.

The Post quoted court documents alleging Johnson was given $5,000 in $100 bills in February 2007 and another $10,000 in cash in August 2007.