JoAnn Reed, the mayor and clerk of the tiny village of Alorton, IL has pleaded guilty to the felony of smuggling contraband (a cellphone) to her niece who was incarcerated in the Alorton jail.
Reed’s niece, Jennifer Harris, 22, was being held on an aggravated battery charge involving a pregnant woman. This happened back in February 2013.
Ironically (and stupidly) it was Harris’ Facebook post, presumably using Reed’s phone (while incarcerated), which drew attention to the matter, with the victim reporting the cyber activity to police.
Prior to her sentencing, Judge John Baricevic stated, “There’s no question good people make bad decisions, good people do stupid things, good people don’t always look far enough down the road as to consequences.”
He failed to mention that smart phones and dumb people are also a terrible combination, especially when they tell on themselves as with Harris’ thoughtless posting on Facebook.
As a result, aunt JoAnn was immediately forced out of public office as well as fired from her job (of 28 years) with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.
Reed will also be required to perform 60 hours of community service, complete two years probation and must undergo drug treatment for prescription medication (which she takes as the result of a previous surgery), according to St. Clair State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly.
One has to wonder what’s in the water cooler at Alorton Village Hall, as this is the sixth Alorton official to face state charges since 2011.
The list includes former Mayor Randy McCallum, former clerk Marilyn Gooch, former Police Chief Michael Baxton, former Streets Superintendent Ronnie Cummings and former Public Safety Director Harry Halter.
As for Reed, she stated that she had “been told by numerous officers that bringing money, cellphones and cigarettes into jail is common practice” and that “I am a good person … My downfall is always trying to help somebody.”
Helping young Jennifer Harris could have entailed counseling her against her thuggish and misguided behavior, not enabling her to engage in cyber-stupidity.
What Ms. Reed did was help herself out of a career of public service and gainful employment. However, given the nature of St. Clair County “poli-tricks,” I expect Reed will resurface in some political capacity.
Just look at what happened, recently, in Washington Park, IL when Village Trustee Darron Suggs was convicted of Medicaid fraud. He resurfaced immediately as an “administrative aide’ to Mayor Ann Rogers.
Perhaps in exchange for not snitching on whoever told her that it was common practice to allow contraband into the Alorton jail, some job can be created for Ms. Reed. Stranger things have happened in “IL Side” politics. Expect more of the same in Alorton.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
