A Pinal County Superior Court judge has ordered the owner of an east valley utility company to hand over financial operations by tomorrow or face jail time. 

The court order follows a series of consumer and environmental complaints against Johnson Utilities and – most recently – dismissal of bribery charges in a criminal case.

For weeks, George Johnson and his attorneys at Johnson Utilities have argued against an original order handed down by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

RELATED: Johnson Utilities Battles Contempt Charge At Corporation Commission

The Pinal County Superior Court backed the regulators’ order on Tuesday, forcing Johnson to give the books and operational control to EPCOR USA by 2 p.m. Thursday or face arrest.

Commissioner Bob Burns says it’s necessary for EPCOR to have access to the accounts so it can continue to provide services to customers and make repairs to infrastructure:

“Based on what EPCOR has shown us in their initial evaluation there are some serious maintenance situations that need to be corrected and they need the funds to do that.”

EPCOR is a power and water utility company based out of Edmonton, Canada.

Thursday afternoon, a Corporation Commission spokesperson confirmed "EPCOR received the financial information from Johnson Utilities today. The Interim Manager Agreement has been reinstated."