A Democratic Illinois state representative was indicted for an alleged fraudulent scheme that included her county clerk husband and her daughter.
Rep. Carol Ammons allegedly collected fraudulent unemployment benefits from the pandemic era and also orchestrated kickback payments from state funds, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
‘Leadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable.’
The indictment says that Ammons funneled state grant money to three separate nonprofits that employed her daughter Titianna Ammons. From 2017 until 2023, Ammons and her daughter allegedly “received financial benefits in excess of $100,000.”
One of those nonprofits was a prison reform group called Hood Vote Neighborhood Transformation, which received $605,000 in funds. The daughter was also allegedly paid nearly $16,000 from the “Friends of Carol Ammons” campaign fund, which was “out of proportion” with the services she provided.
Rep. Ammons is accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about those payments to her daughter in May 2024.
Prosecutors say her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, allegedly instructed a potential witness in the federal investigation to “muddy the waters” in order to obstruct the FBI’s “ability to trace the illegal cash payments to Carol Ammons.”
Titianna Ammons was indicted previously and is not indicted in the newest filing.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat, said Wednesday that Ammons would be temporarily removed from House committees and meetings and prevented from accessing other resources. However, he stopped short of calling for her resignation.
“The allegations in this indictment are extremely serious,” reads a statement from Welch. “Every person under our system of justice is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process.”
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, a Republican, vehemently condemned Ammons and called for her resignation.
“Leadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable,” she said.
Ammons was previously accused of stealing a Coach purse at a secondhand store, but the special prosecutor in that case declined to press charges.
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Ammons is running for re-election, but she is unopposed in the race. She is an 11-year veteran of the Illinois House.
On her campaign website, Ammons touts her successful effort to end cash bail in Illinois, as well as to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement officers.
She also supports reparations, as is documented by the popular Libs of TikTok X account.
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