
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990                   TAG: 9004110505
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

CHARGE AGAINST BAKKER ASSOCIATE DISMISSED

A federal judge has dismissed perjury charges against a former PTL pastor for lack of evidence.

The Rev. Sam Johnson was accused of lying to a federal grand jury in 1987 and 1988, saying he did not remember where he got $10,000 in cash to lend former PTL top executive Richard Dortch. That money was to pay for former church secretary Jessica Hahn's silence about a 1980 sexual encounter with ministry founder Jim Bakker.

Bakker is serving 45 years at a Minnesota prison after being convicted in October of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Robert Potter dismissed the charges Tuesday, saying, "I think I'm afraid if I let it go to the jury I would cause this defendant to have to go through the appeals process."

"I feel born again," Johnson, 50, said.

by CNB