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Ex-champ accused of stealing grant money

Former world boxing champion Reggie Johnson has been indicted on charges of theft, accused of receiving more than US$120,000 in grant money for boxing camps that never took place.

The indictment against Johnson, a world middleweight and light heavyweight champion in the 1990s, is the second case involving money funneled from the Red Cross to youth enrichment camps in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a Harris County prosecutor said.

Johnson is charged with the theft of more than US$100,000, a second-degree felony.

Last week, a Harris County grand jury indicted two Houston police officers on charges alleging they billed the Red Cross more than US$166,000 last summer to operate a two-week basketball camp that lasted only two days.

Assistant District Attorney Terese Buess said the Houston Area Urban League is a link in the two cases.

Buess said the Urban League received more than US$1 million from the Red Cross to distribute for the agency's summer Youth Enrichment Action Programs last year. Seven other vendors were paid from the grant, but Buess would not identify them.

Buess said that Johnson had been supposed to put on a series of boxing camps last summer involving more than 40 children.

Johnson could not be reached for comment.

He held the WBA middleweight title in 1992-1993, and the IBF light heavyweight belt in 1998-1999.
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