SKI RESORT EXEC JAILED FOR MULTI MILLION DOLLAR SKI THEFT
23rd January 2020
Last modified on May 16th, 2021
Former Aspen Skiing Company executive Derek Johnson is sentenced to 6 years. He stole equipment & resold it online for more than a decade.
The 52-year-old stole skis, snowboards and other gear between 2010 and 2018.
His wife Kerri, 48, oversaw the sale and shipping of the stolen equipment through eBay.
She is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
The couple were also ordered to pay back $250,000.
They sold more than 13,000 pairs of company-owned skis worth nearly $6 million.
“The scale and consistency of the theft dwarfs prior cases that have come before the court,” District Judge Chris Seldin said.
Johnson was one of the highest paid Skico employees, he made $116,600 in 2017.
His salary was in the top 10% of wage earners in the USA.
“The scale and the amount of theft is enough to justify a Department of Corrections sentence. This is an incredibly serious offence.”
“I take full and sole responsibility for the crime I have committed,” Johnson said.
“I never intended to hurt anybody. … I’m deeply sorry and remorseful and ashamed of my actions.”
Johnson is unlikely to serve the entire six years in prison.
With good behaviour, he could be released in two-and-a-half to three years.
Johnson previously served on Aspen City Council from 2009 to 2013 and unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2013.
