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Former Tech Data worker charged
By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer Chief executive Steve Raymund remembers former Tech Data salesman Thomas T. Johnson as a "very nice guy." Federal regulators say Johnson was not so nice, after all. Johnson, who worked out of his San Diego home as a Tech Data field representative from March 1992 through March 2000, is accused of insider trading. According to a complaint filed Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, he told a roommate that Tech Data was planning to announce a $6-billion contract with GE Capital IT Solutions in May 1999. The roommate subsequently traded stock in the company and allegedly shared the $105,693 profit with Johnson. Johnson's attorney, Tim Dillon, declined to comment. But it's clear Johnson, 37, didn't have the best taste in friends. The man who lived in his home at the time, alleged co-conspirator Michael C. Dickman, robbed 12 San Diego banks months later and is now bunking in an Arizona prison. When he was arrested at Johnson's home, Dickman, a former biotech executive dubbed the Gap-Toothed Bandit, was found with $35,000 in cash. "He just liked to rob banks," said Michael Wheat, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California who prosecuted Dickman. Wheat said Johnson was not a suspect in the robberies. Tech Data spokesman Chuck Miller said the company, the world's second-largest wholesale distributor of computer hardware and software, cooperated fully with the government's investigation and is not a defendant. "Johnson acted alone in violation of the company's insider trading policy," he said. Miller also said the company did not know that Johnson's former roommate was a bank robber. Dickman was arrested Dec. 10, 1999; Johnson left Tech Data four months later for reasons the company and the SEC would not divulge. One of about 40 field representatives employed by Tech Data at the time, Johnson was not part of the group that assembled the GE Capital deal. It's not clear how he learned of it. The SEC wants Johnson and Dickman to repay their allegedly illegal profits with interest, and wants them to pay fines triple that amount. Wheat said his office has not filed criminal charges against the two, and would not comment on whether charges are planned. In an interview Thursday, Raymund said he vaguely remembered meeting Johnson at one or another sales event, but was not friendly with him outside work. Tech Data's stock closed Thursday at $50.52, up $1.42, or 3 percent. -- Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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