Ammons pleads not guilty, wants to delay House investigation

By Sean Reed | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) — Illinois State Rep. Carrol Ammons, federally indicted on multiple charges of wire fraud, pleaded not guilty in her first court appearance Thursday morning.

With the courtroom gallery at its maximum capacity of 49 people, roughly 30 people, consisting of members of the public — along with friends, family and supporters of the representative — were sent to watch the hearing in an overflow room in the Urbana federal court building.

Ammons, charged with eight counts of wire fraud and one count of witness tampering, entered a not guilty plea beside her two lawyers, Mutaquee Akbar – who is from Florida – and Angela Reany – an attorney from the Carbondale area.

Federal Magistrate Judge Eric Long, of the Central District of Illinois, scheduled a virtual discovery hearing for 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 24.

After being processed, Ammons, and her husband, Aaron Ammons – who is the Champaign County clerk – addressed reporters outside the court building, flanked by their lawyers, family and supporters.

Ammons gave her first in-person statement since being charged.

“I want to offer my appreciations to everyone who’s reached out with encouragement, prayers and support. I respectfully ask for patience as this process moves forward. My legislative record is clear and speaks for itself, and today is about protecting the judicial process,” Ammons said. “I maintain that these allegations are not true and I look forward to responding to them through the legal process where the facts can be formally examined.”

One self-described “reparations activist,” Kamm Howard of Chicago, announced the establishment of a Representative Carol Ammons and Aaron Ammons legal defense fund, and described the indictment against both as targeting the movement advocating to give reparations to Black Americans.

“We are now witnessing a disturbing change in passive resistance to active federal enforcement against reparations initiatives. In September last year, the Department of Justice warned officials of Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina, that it stood ready to investigate and enforce federal law if they added recommendations to develop a community reparations process,” Howard said.

Howard also referenced a motion last month by the DOJ to dismantle Evanston’s reparations program.

“We’ve done resolutions recently so that African Americans can close what’s ethnocide that’s happened to us as a result of the trafficking period. That’s House Resolution 453,” Ammons said.

In the 2023-2024 legislative session, HR 453 encouraged Illinoisans to participate in the Illinois Family Roots Pilot Program, a taxpayer funded genealogical testing program aimed at tracing heritage back to ancestral homelands.

Ammons also sponsored HR 211, which called for the return of artifacts known as the the Benin Bronzes, which originated in Africa and were taken from slaves by slave traders, and subsequently obtained by the British Museum.

If found guilty of the charges, Carol Ammons could face up to 15 years in prison, and potential financial penalties, plus payment of restitution for funds she is alleged to have defrauded the state of, according to Long

There is no minimum to the potential punishment if she is found guilty, according to the judge.

As for the special legislative committee in the Illinois House, a spokeswoman for Minority Leader Tony McCombie told The Center Square they expect more details on the timeline to convene sometime before the end of the week.

Asked if the representative would seek to use her right to representation and attendance at special investigative committee hearings, Akbar said they want the legislature to hold off for now.

“We’re looking into that part as well. Of course, we don’t want that proceeding to get in the way of this proceeding,” Akbar said. “Hopefully we can postpone that so we can focus our attention on her due process rights in federal court.”

Long set a trial date for Sept. 22.