Former Prince George's Co. Executive Jack Johnson released from prison into halfway house

ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Md. (AP) -- A former Maryland county executive has been released to a halfway house after serving about five years in federal prison for taking bribes.

Bureau of Prisons records show that Jack Johnson is now being held at a halfway house in Howard County.

Johnson received a seven-year sentence in 2011 after pleading guilty to two corruption charges. He was arrested the previous year while serving as the top elected official in Prince George's County. FBI agents captured him on tape instructing his wife how to flush a $100,000 check down the toilet and to hide illicit cash in her underwear.

The 67-year-old Johnson had previously been incarcerated at a federal prison in Cumberland.