2007 Illinois – Criminal Conviction – Charles Powell, Sheila Thomas, Jesse…

East Saint Louis City precinct committeemen Charles Powell, Sheila Thomas, Jesse Lewis, and Kelvin Ellis, as well as precinct worker Yvette Johnson, were convicted for conspiracy to commit election fraud after participating in vote-buying activities in the 2004 election, including submitting budgets that would allow city funds to pay voters to vote for Democratic candidates. Powell was sentenced to 21 months in prison; Thomas was sentenced to 18 months in prison, $400 in fines, and two years’ supervised release; Johnson was sentenced to two years’ probation with the first five months in monitored home confinement; Lewis was sentenced to 15 months in prison, two years’ supervised release, and $200 in fines; Ellis was sentenced to a 4.5 year prison sentence for election fraud and assorted criminal offenses, including running a prostitution ring out of city hall and threatening to kill a federal witness.