Donald M. Johnson, who pleaded guilty to a single count of broker-dealer registration violation and saw his probation revoked without bond after a cascading series of alleged probation violations, will spend the holidays in Porter County Jail after a hearing to revoke his probation was continued until Jan. 3 so he can secure an attorney.

Johnson, 59, of Porter, made a point of telling Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer as his hearing got underway on Friday that he did not want to represent himself, he just didn’t have an attorney yet.

Johnson is on probation after pleading guilty a year ago to a single count of securities fraud in a case that has stretched for a decade and involves multiple victims. Under the terms of the plea agreement reluctantly accepted by Clymer in January, Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of broker-dealer registration violation, a Class C felony.

The additional 14 counts against him were dismissed as terms of the plea and he was sentenced to four years of probation and to pay $604,500 in restitution, the total owed to all of his victims.

Clymer, who has long lost patience with Johnson, said he was going to proceed with the evidentiary hearing Friday all the same. When he asked Johnson to raise his hand and swear to tell the truth, Johnson repeated his desire for an attorney.

“Do you swear to tell the truth?” Clymer said, his voice rising, before Johnson, in court in an orange jail jumpsuit, said yes.

Clymer then went over the most recent filing by Johnson’s probation officer asking for his probation to be revoked.

The filing, made Thursday, said Johnson got a job at Matey’s, a bar and grill in Michigan City, and did not report it to probation. Under the terms of his probation, Johnson also isn’t supposed to work in establishments that sell alcohol, another term he violated.

“Do you admit or deny you’ve been employed by Matey’s?” Clymer said.

“Sir, you just said I have the right to counsel and I ask for counsel,” Johnson said.

Clymer filed a denial on Johnson’s behalf on what has become known as the second addendum to revoke Johnson’s probation.

“Do you want a continuance to get counsel?” Clymer said.

When Johnson said yes, Clymer scheduled the evidentiary hearing for 1 p.m. Jan. 3 before abruptly ending the court session.

The first hit to Johnson’s probation status came on Oct. 23, when his probation officer filed a petition to revoke his probation for two reasons: he missed a $20,000 restitution payment due on Oct. 21, and had filed a business license with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office on Aug. 2 without notifying his probation officer, who was to be notified of any change in job status.

The court issued a warrant for Johnson’s arrest and, according to court documents and testimony from a hearing on Monday, police forced their way into his parents’ rural Porter County home the night of Oct. 24 to arrest him.

Johnson made the late payment and one due in June, for a total of $45,000, on Oct. 24, according to court records and testimony Monday, but he also garnered a level 6 felony charge of obstruction of justice for his arrest, another ding to his probationary status.

Thursday’s filing from his probation officer, as well as the filing about his most recent criminal charge, both recommend “that the Court revoke his probation and order that he serve the remaining portion of his suspended sentence. The defendant is a flight risk due to the pending charge and should be held in the Porter County Jail with no bond during the pendency of this revocation.”

His tentative release date from probation, according to court documents, is Jan. 19, 2028.

Johnson has been held at the Porter County Jail without bond since his Oct. 24 arrest.

The allegations against Johnson go back to 2007 and include multiple victims who, according to charging documents, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate investments gone bad when they did not get the returns they were promised and couldn’t get back the money they put into the deals.

Charges against Johnson were filed in March 2014. He was initially charged with 14 counts related to securities fraud, class C felonies at the time. Two months later he was charged with one count of forgery, also a class C felony, and two counts of theft, class D felonies, in a related case.

An appellate court ruling trimmed that to 15 counts after determining that the statute of limitations had run out for one of the victim’s claims but the rest of the charges could stand.

alavalley @chicagotribune.com