Saginaw Man Convicted On Multiple Charges for Assaulting Girlfriend, Tampering with Witnesses

A Saginaw man is facing a lengthy prison sentence after he was found guilty of numerous felonies last Friday in federal court.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, 45-year-old Michael Lee Johnson strangled, suffocated and assaulted his girlfriend on multiple occasions between October and November 2018, sometimes in front of her children. The incidents occurred on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Reservation in Mt. Pleasant.

Court documents indicate Johnson also attempted to improperly influence or prevent the victim from reporting the incident to the police and testifying in court. According to testimony at trial, Johnson contacted the victim more than 100 times following his arrest. A federal jury in Detroit found him guilty of unlawful imprisonment, assault of a dating partner by strangulation, assault of a dating partner by suffocation, domestic violence, and numerous instances of witness tampering.

Johnson will be sentenced February 5.