Federal Indictment Charges Former President of Suburban Chicago School District Board of Education With Engaging in $1.3 Million Honest Services Fraud Scheme

The former President of the East Aurora, Ill. School District 131 Board of Education directed $1.3 million to a company for which she was the Chief Financial Officer as a kickback or bribe in exchange for taking acts in her capacity as President to approve the purchase of air purifiers from a school district vendor, according to an indictment returned Tuesday in federal court in Chicago.

The indictment accuses ANNETTE JOHNSON of steering District 131 to purchase air purifiers from the vendor for approximately $2.7 million in 2021 and voting in favor of the purchase. District 131 paid for the air purifiers using Covid-era federal grant funds, the indictment states. Unbeknownst to the other District 131 board members, Johnson and the vendor had agreed that the vendor would pay a company owned by Johnson's boyfriend-and where Johnson worked as the Chief Financial Officer-more than $1 million of the proceeds of the sale, the indictment states. Within days of a Board vote, in which Johnson participated and approved payment from District 131 to the vendor, the vendor mailed a $1.3 million check, labeled "commission," to the company where Johnson was the Chief Financial Officer, the indictment states.

Johnson was the President of the District 131 Board of Education at the time of the alleged fraud scheme, and she currently remains a member of the Board.

The indictment charges Johnson, 63, of Aurora, Ill., with two counts of honest services mail fraud and one count of honest services wire fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.

The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Scott Wingle, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General's Central Regional Office; and Ryan Whalen, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward A. Liva, Jr. and Adam Rosenbloom.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the Court must impose reasonable sentences under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.