Erika Johnson — Direct/Cross/Redirect
202 linesJUDGE EVERETT: Please raise your right hand, ma'am.
JUDGE EVERETT: Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth?
JUDGE EVERETT: You may take your seat.
JUDGE EVERETT: Please speak loudly and clearly.
MS. DUGAN: Good morning. Will you introduce yourself and spell your name for the court reporter, please?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Erika Johnson.
ERIKA JOHNSON: E-R-I-K-A. J-O-H-N-S-O-N.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And did you work at the Adelson Institute for a number of years?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: For about how long?
ERIKA JOHNSON: About 11 years.
MS. DUGAN: And were you employed there from 2013 to 2016, during those years?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And what was your job there at that time?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Front desk.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Were you also — kind of worked as an assistant to Charlie Adelson and the front desk?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: What were your tasks at the front desk?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Making appointments, collecting payments.
MS. DUGAN: All right. Were you the primary person who did that for Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Did Adelson Institute often deal in cash for their services?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Sometimes.
MS. DUGAN: Would sometimes they offer cash discounts for their dental work?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Back during the time period of 2013 to 2016, did Clariza Lebredo, Harvey Adelson, Charlie Adelson, Donna Adelson, and Amy the hygienist — were those the other employees of Adelson Institute besides yourself?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And were the Adelson Institute business hours Monday through Thursday kind of regular work hours, 9 to 5, and then on Wednesdays would be a late day from 11 to 7?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And those were the operating hours Monday through Thursday of the Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: So back in 2014 to 2016, if a patient called the office and it was closed — would a voicemail — were a call, would it go to a voicemail machine?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And would you be responsible for checking that message when you arrived on Monday morning?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: All right, I want to talk to you about an incident back on June 1st of 2016 at about 11 a.m. Do you remember two law enforcement officers coming to Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And did they ask you about Katherine Magbanua?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes. Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Were they asking you whether or not Katherine Magbanua worked at Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And did they ask you for employee records related to Katherine Magbanua?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Now, did you have access to her employee records there?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Who at the Adelson Institute had access to employee records?
ERIKA JOHNSON: The owners of the business. So the Adelsons.
MS. DUGAN: Okay, meaning Donna, Harvey, or Charlie?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Correct.
MS. DUGAN: When police asked you for the records, did you call Donna Adelson?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Or Harvey Adelson?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Did you call Charlie Adelson?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And when you called Charlie Adelson to let him know that law enforcement was there and what they were asking about, did you step away from them a little bit to the back of the office to make that call?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Now, at the time, did you know that the call was being recorded?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Have you had an opportunity to listen to that call in prior proceedings and also before court today?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And was it your and Charlie Adelson's voices in that call?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: From your memory, is it an accurate recording of that conversation that day?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: At this time I move State's 106, the call that Erika Johnson made to Charlie Adelson, into evidence.
JUDGE EVERETT: Any objections?
MR. RASHBAUM: No objections.
JUDGE EVERETT: State's 106 submitted.
ERIKA JOHNSON: — for what? That she — does she work here? I would — I wouldn't... yeah. And they don't know the X — the X. Did — did she work there? I was like, yeah, she worked there, but I don't know what you want.
[STAGE DIRECTION]: [recording of phone call between Charlie Adelson and Erika Johnson plays]
AUDIO RECORDING: Erika, Erika, Erika. Yes. Do me a favor.
AUDIO RECORDING: I'm not there right now.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Uh-huh.
AUDIO RECORDING: And I'm in surgery.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Uh-huh.
AUDIO RECORDING: But it's not my office.
AUDIO RECORDING: It's my dad's office.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Uh-huh.
AUDIO RECORDING: So I can't give anything out.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Right.
AUDIO RECORDING: I mean, I don't have access to it. I don't know where anything is.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Okay, so you don't... you don't have access to anything?
AUDIO RECORDING: I don't know anything here either.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yeah.
AUDIO RECORDING: So I would do this. I would not, um, I would not speak to anybody. Um, I mean you could, I mean you can do whatever you want, but I don't... it's my dad's office.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yeah.
AUDIO RECORDING: So I don't have access to any of that stuff.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Okay.
AUDIO RECORDING: So they can talk to my dad, and I'm sure they'll be able to get whatever they want from them.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Okay, understandable.
AUDIO RECORDING: So if I... if I had it, I mean, listen, you can talk to whoever you want. I shouldn't say don't talk to anybody. Um, no, you know, I'm gonna do whatever you can. But yeah, I mean, no, no, I mean, I'm not, I shouldn't say don't talk to anyone. Talk to whoever on the planet you want to talk to. Um, but it's not my office and it's not your office.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Right.
AUDIO RECORDING: So you don't have, uh, records to give them, and I don't have records to give them. So I'm sure they'll be able to help them out in any way, um, any way they can.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Okay, so that's what I'll tell them. Tell them that.
AUDIO RECORDING: Yeah, tell them that. It's not... I mean, it's not my office. The office is sold back to my dad, actually, a long time ago. So tell them that you will... so it's actually, you're talking to the wrong doctor Adelson.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Right, right, right.
AUDIO RECORDING: So what you need to do is tell them that you will get in contact...
AUDIO RECORDING: I mean, it's not your office. You can't give that record.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yeah, they said within 20 days of reporting for the Florida statute, provide above cause with reason.
AUDIO RECORDING: Are they there now, or are they just standing there?
ERIKA JOHNSON: They're there, but, you know, I'm in the back.
ERIKA JOHNSON: They're just waiting for me to come back.
AUDIO RECORDING: Oh, and they want records?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yeah.
AUDIO RECORDING: Do me a favor. I'm going to call you from a landline on your cell phone, okay?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Okay.
[STAGE DIRECTION]: [phone recording ends]
MS. DUGAN: We heard you say at the beginning of the call you're referencing Katie. When you said Katie, were you talking about Katherine Magbanua?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And how did you know Katherine Magbanua?
ERIKA JOHNSON: She was a patient at the office and his girlfriend.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. A patient at Adelson Institute and Charlie Adelson's girlfriend?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Had you ever seen Katherine Magbanua work at Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Did Adelson Institute have a cleaning service that came...
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And was it a husband and wife team that cleaned the office?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And was Katherine Magbanua part of that husband and wife team?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Were you on yearly salary or paid by the hour at Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Hourly.
MS. DUGAN: And would you get paid every two weeks?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: At that time, were your checks around five hundred and eighty-nine dollars every two weeks for about 28 hours a week?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Would you ever get paid for weeks of work in advance?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And when would that occur? What was going on for that to occur?
ERIKA JOHNSON: They would go on vacation.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. And when that would happen, when they would go on vacation, would you sometimes get two checks at a time?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Would you ever get four, five, six checks at a time?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Not that I can remember.
MS. DUGAN: Were you aware of any of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends being on the payroll at Adelson Institute?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: Was Donna Adelson the person that took care of payroll?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Had you ever been aware of any employee in the history of Adelson Institute that worked exclusively by phone or remotely?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MS. DUGAN: That's all I have. Thank you.
JUDGE EVERETT: Cross-examination?
MR. RASHBAUM: Very, very briefly.
MR. RASHBAUM: Good afternoon.
ERIKA JOHNSON: Good afternoon.
MR. RASHBAUM: At the time of that call, Charlie Adelson didn't own the office, correct?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Correct.
MR. RASHBAUM: And the reason why you called him is because his parents, Harvey and Donna, were out of town, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: The reason why you went to the back of the office when they came is because there were patients in the office, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Correct.
MR. RASHBAUM: And you were nervous about this all going on with patients in the office, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Absolutely.
MR. RASHBAUM: And Charlie, when he called you back, that was his big concern, right? The patients being in the office, right?
MR. RASHBAUM: When he called you back, was there anything crazy that he told you?
ERIKA JOHNSON: I don't know. Nothing.
MR. RASHBAUM: Now, there's been talk about this answering machine.
MR. RASHBAUM: It was like an old-fashioned type of answering machine, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: The other ones, a voicemail, yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And on the answering machine, Harvey Adelson would give his name and cell phone number for an emergency, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Correct.
MR. RASHBAUM: By the way, Charlie Adelson, he only worked at the Adelson Institute maybe one, maybe two times a month, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And when he would work there, he'd work mostly with you, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: You liked working with him, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Loved.
MR. RASHBAUM: And he'd work late at night?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes. Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: And sometimes you'd go out to dinner late at night after, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: By the way, you say you loved working with Charlie Adelson.
MR. RASHBAUM: Did you continue to work with him after the allegations in this case?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MR. RASHBAUM: Did you ever worry about working with him?
ERIKA JOHNSON: No.
MR. RASHBAUM: You continue to work with him until he got arrested, correct?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Correct.
MR. RASHBAUM: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Redirect examination?
MS. DUGAN: So at one point Adelson Institute was sold to Charlie Adelson and then sold back to Harvey Adelson, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: I think so.
MS. DUGAN: But Charlie Adelson still worked as a dentist there, right?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: At his family's dental practice?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: And he also worked as a traveling periodontist, correct?
ERIKA JOHNSON: Yes.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. Just a second.
MS. DUGAN: Do you remember previously saying that you didn't remember what happened when he called you back on the landline?
ERIKA JOHNSON: I don't remember.
MS. DUGAN: Okay. That's all.
JUDGE EVERETT: Will Ms. Johnson be recalled at any point or is she released?
MS. DUGAN: No, she can be released.
JUDGE EVERETT: Thank you.
MR. RASHBAUM: She can be released, Your Honor.
JUDGE EVERETT: Have a good day.
JUDGE EVERETT: Members of the jury, we're going to take our lunch break at this point.
JUDGE EVERETT: Once again, I'm going to remind you of the thing that I always do. Do not discuss the case with each other or anyone else. Do not watch any news coverage. Do not seek out any information concerning this matter.
JUDGE EVERETT: We are going to resume with the trial at 1:45. Please report back by 1:30.