No Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for 11 years, judge tells accused embezzler in Raleigh

A judge sentenced a man charged with embezzling more than $5.8 million, a possible Wake County record, to up to 16 years in prison Monday.

Hugh Johnson II, 44, pleaded guilty to eight counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and will spend from 11 years and 8 months to 16 years in prison.

Six embezzlement charges were voluntarily dropped against him as part of the plea deal.

Johnson was arrested last year after racking up almost $6 million in expenses from 2012 to 2017 on a company credit card, search warrants say.

He worked as a manager at BMG Labtech in Cary. BMG is a German company that produces microplate readers, instruments used in life science and pharmaceutical labs.

Among his expenses were trips to Mexico, stays at the Ritz Carlton in Florida and Trump International in New York, $145,000 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and big donations to his church, The News & Observer previously reported.

At the time he was arrested, prosecutors said he owned three homes in Wake County and “at least” five luxury vehicles, court documents say.

“Your attorney said you’re a nice guy, but really, what you are is a crook. You’re a thief,” Judge Graham Shirley told Johnson, WRAL reported. “In my book, stealing from people who trust you is a far greater crime than stealing from people you don’t know.”

“You won’t be eating at Ruth’s Chris for the next 140 months,” reporter Ed Crump, of ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner, quoted Shirley in a tweet.