11 current or former elected officials and employees in the Village of Ford Heights charged with theft and misconduct appeared together in court for the first time Wednesday.
The officials and employees stand accused of stealing village funds to pay for personal vacations and trips, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Three of the co-defendants entered a plea of not guilty.
Some of them left court with no comment over what the attorney general argued was a scheme to illegally use village funds for personal gain.
Prosecutors told NBC Chicago the group is alleged to have stolen a combined $100,000.
Former Mayor Annie Coulter is among those charged who asked a judge for a public defender in the case.
Her co-defendants include current Trustee James Morgan, former Trustee Scottie Hatten, and village employee Antone Adams.
The three men pleaded not guilty after being indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of theft and misconduct, which they allegedly committed between August 2020 and April 2021.
Adams expressed his innocence moments after leaving his arraignment.
“I’m the janitor. I didn’t take anything, nobody gave me anything,” he said. “I don’t know anything. My trip I paid for it out of my pocket. I didn’t travel with them. I was in a whole different hotel. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
The attorney general said the group used village funds to pay for airfare, hotel accommodations and lavish spending while on personal vacations to casinos in Las Vegas and Michigan City, Indiana.
Investigators with the attorney general along with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office raided the Ford Heights municipal building last week.
“The money is supposed to go for the betterment of the community, not for personal gain in your pocket, and the buck stops here,” said resident Nicole Conway. “The taxpayers the citizens of Ford Heights deserve so much better.”
Former Trustee Ladell Jones will be arraigned Thursday morning.
During Wednesday’s hearing, six defendants requested more time to seek private counsel before being arraigned.
The next court hearing is scheduled for November 19.
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