Moulton Water Superintendent Jay Johnson was arrested Thursday by Max Russ Sanders, Jr., and investigator with the Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office. Johnson, 50, was charged with second degree possession of a forged instrument, a class C felony. The second degree distinction results from the incident involving a state document.
The form in question was an application to receive Johnson’s Grade IV operator certification. He admitted to forging the name of Stanley Nichols, the chief operator at the water treatment plant. The application was submitted approximately six weeks ago. After receiving the document, the mayor’s office called Nichols. The mayor asked Nichols if he signed the document. Nichols said he did not. The mayor turned it over to the DA’s office.
Johnson said he had no ill intent.
“I was doing it to help the city,” said Johnson. “I wasn’t going to get more money – no more pay, nothing of that nature. I just took the test and was going to get certified because that would help us with funding, having another Grade IV operator on staff.”
Johnson said it’s common practice in the water department to sign forms in good faith.
However, Nichols disputed Johnson’s notion.
“I did not give anybody permission to sign my name,” said Nichols. “We do not sign names [at the plant.] It’s not a customary basis for you to forge somebody else's signature. None of my operators sign my name; I don’t sign none of their names.”
On Friday, Johnson was informed by Mayor Roger Weatherwax that he was suspended and not allowed on city property.
“He presented a state document to us,” said Weatherwax. “The name on it had been forged. We turned it over to the district attorney’s office.
“It was a state document, and he presented it. And it kind of forced my hand.”
The arrest comes a year after Weatherwax suspended and subsequently fired Johnson for misconduct. He was reinstated by the personnel council two months later.
Johnson was appointed water department superintendent in 2019. He has worked for the water department for 27 years.
Johnson was released on $2,500 bond.
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