{"id":42058,"date":"2026-07-09T07:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=42058"},"modified":"2026-07-09T07:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:15:25","slug":"st-rep-carol-ammons-indicted-in-scheme-to-receive-kickbacks-misusing-campaign-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/42058-st-rep-carol-ammons-indicted-in-scheme-to-receive-kickbacks-misusing-campaign-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Rep. Carol Ammons Indicted in Scheme to Receive Kickbacks, Misusing Campaign Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawmaker\u2019s husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, charged with obstructing justice<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By HANNAH MEISEL <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, faces 10 counts of wire fraud, making a false statement to the FBI and conspiracy to obstruct justice, while her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, faces two obstruction of justice counts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A federal grand jury indicted the Ammonses late Tuesday following an FBI investigation at least two years in the making. Their indictment follows unemployment fraud charges brought last month against their daughter, Titianna Ammons, who features prominently in Tuesday\u2019s indictment as a conduit for illegal cash kickbacks to Carol Ammons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prosecutors allege that starting in 2017, Ammons and her daughter \u201creceived financial benefits in excess of $100,000\u201d via a scheme including illegal payments from the \u201cFriends of Carol Ammons\u201d campaign account and from payments made to Titianna Ammons from local nonprofits that received state grant funds arranged by the lawmaker.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illinois House Speaker Emanuel &#8220;Chris&#8221; Welch stopped short of calling on Ammons to resign from her seat but said he is temporarily removing her from \u201cany and all House Democratic Caucus meetings, House committees, and from accessing Speaker&#8217;s Office staff and resources,\u201d calling the allegations against her \u201cextremely serious.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CHICAGO \u2014 State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, an 11-year veteran of the Illinois House, has been charged with orchestrating an alleged scheme to receive illegal cash kickbacks from her own campaign account and from local nonprofits for which she helped secure state grant funding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment, brought by a federal grand jury late Tuesday, outline an alleged conspiracy involving both Ammons\u2019 husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, and her daughter, who last month was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-gazette.com\/news\/local\/courts-police-fire\/former-champaign-county-board-member-accused-of-accepting-unemployment-benefits-while-on-board\/article_07931225-7d00-40f1-a043-48876a11fb66.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">indicted on separate federal charges<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> alleging she fraudulently collected expanded COVID-era unemployment benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the daughter, Titianna Ammons, was not charged in Tuesday\u2019s indictment, prosecutors allege she was the conduit for some of the kickbacks, including overpayments from her mother\u2019s \u201cFriends of Carol Ammons\u201d campaign account for work she didn\u2019t do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment also alleges the lawmaker used her official position to direct state grant money to three separate nonprofits that paid her daughter, one of which made Titianna Ammons a program director after the state representative helped draft her employment contract.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In all, prosecutors allege Ammons and her daughter \u201creceived financial benefits in excess of $100,000\u201d beginning in 2017 through roughly 2023. But Ammons\u2019 legal issues deepened in May 2024 when she allegedly lied to an FBI agent about her daughter being paid out of state grant funds through one of the nonprofits Titianna Ammons was affiliated with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the year after the FBI approached the lawmaker, prosecutors allege that she and her husband engaged in obstruction of justice with at least one \u201cpotential witness.\u201d According to the indictment, Aaron Ammons took the lead on buffering his family from the ongoing federal investigation, including instructing one potential witness to \u201cmuddy the waters\u201d with the FBI \u201cto obstruct its ability to trace the illegal cash payments to Carol Ammons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Wednesday, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel &#8220;Chris&#8221; Welch stopped short of calling on Ammons to resign from her seat but said he is temporarily removing her from \u201cany and all House Democratic Caucus meetings, from all House committees, and from accessing Speaker&#8217;s Office staff and resources.\u201d Welch also said he\u2019s directed staff to \u201creview the budget to determine whether any funds need to be paused or reconsidered.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The allegations in this indictment are extremely serious,\u201d Welch said in a statement. \u201cEvery person under our system of justice is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process. The U.S. Attorney will lay out evidence in court, where Representative Ammons will have the chance to defend herself against the allegations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, however, called on Ammons to \u201cresign immediately\u201d and criticized Welch for not doing the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLeadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ammons indictment follows last week\u2019s pressure campaign on now-former State Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, to resign after an internal ethics investigation into undisclosed behavior. Benton resigned late Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/rep-harry-benton-resigns-withdraws-name-from-ballot-amid-ethics-investigation\/\"><b>Rep. Harry Benton resigns, withdraws name from ballot amid ethics investigation<\/b><\/a><b> | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/speaker-welch-to-rep-harry-benton-resign-or-be-expelled\/\"><b>Speaker Welch to Rep. Harry Benton: Resign or be expelled<\/b><\/a><b> | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/will-the-report-of-ex-rep-harry-bentons-alleged-misconduct-be-made-public-thats-up-to-lawmakers\/\"><b>Will the report of ex-Rep. Harry Benton\u2019s alleged misconduct be made public? That\u2019s up to lawmakers<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Cash kickbacks<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In three separate occasions in 2025, Aaron Ammons allegedly attempted to influence at least one potential witness in the investigation, beginning with a paper note saying there was \u201c\u2018nothing illegal\u2019 about friends giving friends money regarding illegal cash kickbacks paid to Carol Ammons from the Friends of Carol Ammons political committee.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the indictment, which pegged the interaction to February 2025, Aaron Ammons showed the note to the potential witness and then destroyed it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two months later, with his wife present, Aaron Ammons allegedly advised a potential witness \u201cthat they should communicate in code words about the ongoing federal investigation\u201d and said he would \u201clook into\u201d the cash deposits the lawmaker made to her account around the dates she received illegal cash kickbacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then in June 2025, again with his wife present, Aaron Ammons allegedly asked a potential witness about cash payments to the lawmaker before directing the person to \u201cmuddy the waters\u201d with the FBI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those interactions form the basis of the obstruction of justice charges against the couple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment mentions other \u201cindividuals\u201d who paid cash kickbacks to Ammons, but only identifies her daughter as one of the conduits. According to prosecutors, the Friends of Carol Ammons campaign fund paid her daughter \u201capproximately $600 per month &#8230; totaling approximately $15,585, not in proportion with services actually rendered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An unknown number of other individuals were paid through checks \u201cin excess of the amount for services actually rendered,\u201d including to family members, including over $25,000 between January 2019 and November of 2020 \u2014 none of which were disclosed as required in state campaign finance records. According to the indictment, some of that money was paid back to Ammons in cash kickbacks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, between March 2021 and August 2022, prosecutors allege campaign finance records falsely reported paying more than $15,000 to a consulting firm \u201cwhen in fact, they were paid to an individual who paid a portion back to Ammons in cash.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ammons also allegedly \u201cfalsely classified certain expenditures as mileage reimbursements\u201d that she also later recouped in cash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Conflict of interest<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Democrats who lead the General Assembly have empowered their members to wield wide authority over state grant money to be spent in their districts. As part of her legislative duties, Ammons directed state funding to three separate nonprofits based in the Champaign-Urbana area, beginning in the fiscal year that began July 1, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first nonprofit that benefitted from Ammons\u2019 grant funding prowess was the Hood Vote Neighborhood Transformation, a nonprofit focused on prison reform and services for those reentering the community after serving time in the correctional system. According to the indictment, Ammons diverted funding from the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center, which served children from impoverished areas, to Hood Vote, which received a $605,431 in state grant money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Titianna Ammons was already associated with Hood Vote, and eventually became program director at the nonprofit. According to the indictment, Titianna Ammons\u2019 April 2, 2021, paycheck for $3,326 was paid out of the state grant appropriation, which prompted state officials to inform both Ammons and Hood vote that paying her daughter out of state funds \u201cwas an impermissible conflict of interest\u201d and violated state law. Prosecutors cite statute prohibiting state officials from benefitting financially \u201cfrom a decision she could make in her official capacity, including through indirect benefits to family members.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><b>The indictment<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Hood Vote stopped paying Titianna Ammons a salary, Ammons didn\u2019t assist the nonprofit in renewing its state grant for the next fiscal year, according to the indictment. Instead, for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2020, Ammons helped the Bridgewater Sullivan Community Life Center, a community development and community organizing nonprofit associated with Bethel AME Church in Champaign, obtain a $612,000 state grant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ammons then \u201crecommended individuals for employment with Bridgewater,\u201d including her daughter. She allegedly assisted the nonprofit with \u201cdrafting her daughter&#8217;s employment contract,\u201d which netted Titianna Ammons more than $60,000 annually as program director between August 2021 and May 2023. That salary was also paid out of the state grant, even though Ammons \u201cknew full well it was a conflict of interest for her daughter to be paid out of state grants that she had initiated and facilitated,\u201d according to the indictment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That language was echoed in the false statement charge against Ammons outlined in the indictment. When the FBI approached Ammons in May 2024, the lawmaker allegedly lied to the agent, claiming she had no knowledge regarding the conflict of interest stemming from Hood Vote paying her daughter from state grant funding, despite Ammons knowing \u201cfull well that individuals from the State of Illinois and Hood Vote Neighborhood Transition had previously discussed the conflict of interest&#8221; with her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Code word \u2018gift\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an effort to \u201cavoid detection\u201d of payments to herself, prosecutors allege Ammons required \u201can individual\u201d associated with Bridgewater \u201cto provide cash kickbacks\u201d to her \u2014 which were sometimes referred to as \u201cgifts\u201d \u2014 all paid out of the state grant to Bridgewater.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment cites three text messages from Ammons to the Bridgewater-associated individual that allegedly correspond to direct deposits made to that person\u2019s credit union account, \u201cfrom which a portion was withdrawn in cash and transferred to Ammons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, on June 18, 2022, Ammons sent a text asking simply, \u201cWhat\u2019s up? Gift\u201d \u2014 allegedly a signal for the individual to drop off some of the $500 that had been deposited into their credit union account the previous day. On Oct. 20, 2022, $700 was deposited in the credit union account, and Ammons directed the individual that she could catch up before that evening\u2019s Champaign County Board meeting \u201cto grab the gift.\u201d On Dec. 2, 2022, the same day another $500 deposit hit the credit union account, Ammons was more blunt:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHey you dropping my gift off today?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the text messages and money transfers serve as the basis of some of the wire fraud counts against the lawmaker.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The indictment names one final nonprofit that benefited from Ammons\u2019 help directing state grant funding. The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, which happened to employ Ammons before she was elected to the Illinois House, received more than $1 million in state grants in 2021 and 2022, \u201cincluding a $700,000 member initiative funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act,\u201d according to the charging document.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Titianna Ammons again received payments directly funded by the state grant facilitated by her mother \u2014 this time as a \u201cdigital marketing coordinator\u201d for the IMC. From July to October 2022, while she was also working full-time at Bridgewater and as an \u201cintermittent public service representative\u201d with the Illinois Secretary of State\u2019s office, the IMC paid Titianna Ammons approximately $9,990.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state budget for the fiscal that began last week includes a $750,000 reappropriation to the IMC for violence prevention programs and operational expenses, which may be flagged in the review Welch ordered for the state budget after Ammons\u2019 indictment Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ammons has previously faced legal trouble in early 2020 after her alleged theft of a Coach purse at a secondhand store, though a special prosecutor <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcia.com\/news\/special-prosecutor-declines-to-press-charges-against-state-representative-carol-ammons-in-alleged-theft-case\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ultimately declined to press charges<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against her. In 2015, Aaron Ammons was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-gazette.com\/opinion\/columns\/jim-dey-party-favors\/article_f7e2a2cb-fa0d-55ea-bbeb-516f4ff42d2d.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">granted a pardon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from departing Gov. Pat Quinn for a 1990s-era drug-related conviction, clearing the way for him to run for office. One of the couple\u2019s sons also lobbies for the education-focused nonprofit Advance Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additional reporting by Ben Szalinski.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmaker\u2019s husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, charged with obstructing justice By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com\u00a0 Article Summary\u00a0 State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, faces 10 counts of wire [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":42059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>St. Rep. Carol Ammons Indicted in Scheme to Receive Kickbacks, Misusing Campaign Funds - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/42058-st-rep-carol-ammons-indicted-in-scheme-to-receive-kickbacks-misusing-campaign-funds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Rep. 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