Joe Johnson Is Not Going To Jail, Okay?

Victor Oladipo, Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson (AP)
Victor Oladipo, Joe Johnson
Or: Is TMZ Going To Jail For Their Sensationalist Joe Johnson Headline? (AP)

According to TMZ Sports, Joe Johnson has been threatened with jail time by a judge for not fulfilling an obligation to Shannon Becton, the mother of his six-year-old son, whose name is Gavin. The report does not use the child’s name.

via TMZ Sports:

Becton claims Joe is supposed to give her progress reports about how the kid is doing in school and in his extracurricular activities when he’s in his custody.

Problem is, Shannon claims Joe isn’t keeping her in the loop — “I am unaware of my child’s whereabouts, and [Joe] is interfering with me maintaining a healthy relationship with my son.”

Shannon claims she only talks with her kid “once a week if lucky and he is now being raised by a nanny since Mr. Johnson travels a lot.”

But the biggest issue — Shannon claims Joe had agreed in their custody arrangement to pay for her to fly to NYC to visit their kid, but FAILED to come through.

According to docs, filed on March 11, Johnson was found in contempt of court for blowing off his obligation — and the judge warned if he screws up again it “may result in [Johnson’s] incarceration.

So, to boil this report down: a judge threatened that Joe Johnson would go to jail because he hasn’t bought Ms. Becton a plane ticket to New York yet. Or, in other words, Joe Johnson isn’t going to jail.

Tom Lorenzo of NetsDaily goes more in detail:

Look, I don’t want to make light of custody battles, but I do think we probably could address what the facts here are, and how this story, as the Nets are readying themselves to make a deep run in the playoffs, is really a non-story.

First, the original custody agreement was sought out by Johnson himself, who offered up moving costs, to bring Ms. Shannon Becton and their son to New York, along with a new car, paid for by Johnson, and monthly payments of $2,000-$2,500 — he is also paying for private schooling, medical insurance and other activities, according to TMZ. These were arrangements sought out by Johnson himself, not an instance where he had denied payment or custody of the child.

Second, the custody is shared between Johnson and Becton, as agreed on by both parties, in which the child will live with Johnson until Ms. Becton moves to New York. So, they agreed that their child will live with Johnson. Agreed to it. He wanted the child to live with him and she OK’d it.

Finally, the “big issue” here is that Johnson hadn’t paid for a plane ticket for Ms. Becton to fly up to New York and see their child, which was agreed upon in the custody arrangement. To which, the judge said if he does it again it MAY result in Johnson going to jail. May.

The report is below. Don’t click on it.

TMZ Sports