TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Juror Investigated After He Makes Tampering Claim

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

  Trevor Johnston

TAMPA – What started as a multimillion-dollar age-discrimination verdict against a prominent auto dealer has turned into a sheriff's investigation into a 21-year-old former car dealer who served on the jury.

In April, a Hillsborough Circuit Court jury ordered Ernie Haire to pay $5.8 million to Benjamin Atkinson, a former wholesale manager at Ernie Haire Ford, who alleged he had been illegally fired in June 2005 at the age of 51 as part of a pattern of discrimination.

Haire's attorneys have asked a judge to reduce what they term an "outrageous" award or to overturn the verdict as being unsupported by the evidence. A hearing is set for next month.

In June, one of the jurors who sat on the case, Trevor Johnston, told Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives that a representative of Haire's approached him in a Wal-Mart and offered him $75,000 if he'd talk to lawyers to help Haire.

After an investigation, detectives accused Johnston of lying. In August, Johnston was charged with filing a false police report.

Haire attorney Todd Hodges said he plans to file another motion in the civil case under seal because of the investigation. He said he couldn't discuss the details because the investigation is ongoing.

"This is not the end of it," Hodges said. "We have always felt there was something wrong with the verdict. We felt it did not comport in any manner to the evidence."

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said she couldn't discuss the case because it's part of an ongoing investigation.

"I'm just a kid," Johnston protested. He said he wishes he never served on the jury.

"If Trevor Johnston's mouth is moving, I have a difficult time believing it," Haire said.

A sheriff's report about the Wal-Mart incident was anonymously mailed to The Tampa Tribune. According to Haire, the mailing is missing important pages that would give details beneficial to Haire. But he said he could not disclose the information because of advice of his attorney and because the investigation is continuing.

According to the investigation report obtained by The Tribune, on June 30 Johnston told deputies that two days earlier, he was approached in the shampoo aisle by Haire's general manager, Greg Balasco, who offered him $75,000 if he would "throw a case so Ernie Haire could win an appeal."

Balasco vehemently denies approaching Johnston. He produced witnesses to show at the time this was supposed to have happened, he was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico with several other people.

In an interview today, Johnston said he actually told detectives that someone who said he was a representative of Balasco approached him, but not Balasco. He volunteered that he gave a handwritten statement in which he said it was Balasco, but said that was because he's not very good at writing things down and wrote it wrong. "I wrote it real quick," he said.

"I admit it doesn't look good for me," Johnston said.

According to Johnston and the report, deputies had Johnston try to contact Balasco so they could record the conversations. Johnston made three unsuccessful attempts.

About a week later, he said, the deputies had him meet them in the parking lot of a Publix on Dale Mabry around 9 or 9:30 p.m.

He said they accused him of avoiding them and of lying. He said they asked him to take a lie detector test, but he refused because he thought it was insulting. He said they told him if he admitted he'd lied, nothing bad would happen to him and the whole thing would go away.

"I'm a young kid, easily manipulated," he said. "They're double-teaming me." He said he told them, "Whatever you want me to say, I'll say … They put words in my mouth to say." He said he wrote down that he'd lied.

Now he says he didn't lie, and that he went to authorities because he wanted to do the right thing.

"I did what's right as far as I'm concerned," he said. "Unfortunately, I would get slapped with filing a false police report because they can't prove anything."
.
Haire said Johnston "knew his goose was cooked" when detectives produced a store video from Wal-Mart showing Johnston approaching and talking to someone who didn't remotely resemble Balasco.

Johnston said he was let go from two jobs at auto dealerships after the trial, but he doesn't think it's related to his involvement in this case. More likely, he said, the economy played a role.

Haire said he thinks Johnston has something against the auto industry.

"I'm not a bad guy," Johnston insisted. "I'm a 21-year-old kid who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. If I need to, I'll write an apology letter to anyone I hurt."

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT