PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The wife of Seattle triple murderer Melvin Johnson has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for her role in a tax-fraud scheme.
Loretta Johnson of Portland married her husband while he was in prison for the 1999 deaths of his half-sister, niece and grandniece.
Prosecutors say Melvin Johnson gathered identifying information of fellow inmates and then directed his wife to file bogus tax returns. About 125 false returns were filed over a five-year span, and the defendants received $174,411 in refunds.
Melvin Johnson was sentenced last month: Three years were added to his life sentence.
Judge Robert E. Jones asked Tuesday how Johnson could marry a person convicted of a triple murder. She replied it was “just something that happened.”