ASHEVILLE – Charges of assault with a machete and domestic fowls running at large have been dismissed against an Airbnb business owner recently convicted of federal bank fraud.
Shawn Thomas Johnson, 38, was set to appear in Buncombe County District Court Jan. 26, on misdemeanor assault, and the misdemeanor charge relating to chickens on the loose. But the charges, which were unrelated, were dismissed, according to court records and the man Johnson is alleged to have attacked.
In terms of legal issues, Johnson has much bigger problems. He was sentenced Dec. 14 to nearly eight years in prison after pleading guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to bank fraud and possession of a firearm by a felon. He is appealing part of a $2.8 million money judgment ordered against him and is making the appeal on his own without an attorney.
Johnson is being held in the Cherokee County jail. It is not clear why he has not yet been transferred to a federal prison. A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals service, which is in charge of prisoner transfer, declined to comment, citing safety and security issues.
The dismissal of the state misdemeanors was opposed by Brendan Lafferty who took out a warrant on Johnson after Lafferty said Johnson charged at him screaming with a machete on May 28, 2022. Lafferty contacted the Citizen Times in a text the day of the dismissal. The Citizen Times sought further comment Jan. 31 but his phone did not accept calls or texts.
Buncombe District Attorney Todd Williams told the Citizen Times that getting Johnson to court from federal prison would be difficult and that any state sentence would run concurrently and wouldn’t increase his penalty.
“If by chance Mr. Johnson’s appeals are unexpectedly successful and he is released from prison well before his current projected release date, state charges could be refiled and reinstated,” Williams said.
Johnson had tapped into the Asheville area’s red-hot short-term rental market, using $3.5 million in loans he got with straw applicants or by giving false information to banks, according to his guilty plea. In arguing for a lighter sentence he said the loans were paid back and therefore there were no victims. But Chief District Court Judge Martin Reidinger said the crimes undermined confidence in banks and the economic system.
Johnson had been released pending his sentencing, but was jailed after it was found he violated terms set by the court when he hired a sex worker, attempted bank fraud and sold property.
It was his second federal conviction after a 2010 sentence for counterfeiting. After that sentence, Johnson appeared to turn his life around, becoming known as a hard-working handyman and a celebrated entrepreneur, owning dozens of short-term vacation rentals.
But some doing business with him began to complain, saying he had bilked them out of money. In 2019, his real estate license was permanently revoked after state regulators determined he had kept money earned by Airbnb owners whose property he managed.
On Nov. 3 he was sanctioned by a Buncombe Superior Court judge who said he was abusing the judicial system by using it to “harass” and “delay” those he opposed.
More: Asheville armed bank robber convicted in federal court; rode off with cash on a bike
January 6 defendant charged with punching woman in Asheville bar stays out of jail on bond
Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He’s written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at [email protected], 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
