Politics
Former Top Aide to Ex-Ald. Carrie Austin Pleads Guilty to Stealing Food Stamps
(WTTW News)
The former top aide to ex-Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) pleaded guilty to stealing government funds by orchestrating a scheme to buy Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, better known as food stamps, at a discount.
Chester Wilson, 59, was Austin’s chief of staff when he was indicted in July 2021 alongside his boss, once one of the most powerful politicians in Chicago.
On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of theft of government funds. He had also faced an additional count of bribery conspiracy and two counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery.
Wilson faces up to one year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000. He is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 13, 2026.
Wilson, who had been scheduled to stand trial next month before U.S. District Court Judge John F. Kness, was also accused of participating in a scheme with Austin to accept bribes in the form of home improvements, including new kitchen cabinets and granite countertops, from a developer.
Kness ruled in July that Austin was too sick to stand trial on charges she leveraged her elected office for personal gain.
Austin resigned from the City Council in March 2023, and did not seek reelection.
Wilson on Wednesday also admitted that he facilitated Austin’s receipt of benefits from a developer, knowing they intended to try and influence the alderperson in her official capacities.
Federal prosecutors had planned to try Wilson separately on the theft charge, which alleged that he stole government funds by orchestrating a scheme to buy Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits at a discount, officials said.
Wilson was not eligible to receive SNAP benefits due to his salary as Austin’s chief of staff, but paid others less than face value for their SNAP cards, prosecutors said.
In one instance outlined in court Wednesday, Wilson admitted that he paid an individual $280 in cash in exchange for $400 in SNAP benefits contained on an Illinois Link card. Days later, Wilson used $372 in SNAP benefits to pay for groceries at a store in Calumet City.
The ward map drawn after the 2020 census moved the 34th Ward, which saw a steep drop in population during the past decade, to the booming area south and west of the Loop. That newly created ward is represented by Ald. Bill Conway.
Austin earns pension payments of more than $9,500 per month, according to records obtained by WTTW News from the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. Appointed in 1994 by Mayor Richard M. Daley, and elected six times by Far South Side voters, Austin served on the City Council for approximately 28 years and six months.
The bulk of the charges Austin faced involve a firm that began building a $49.6 million redevelopment in her former Far South Side ward that includes Roseland in 2014.
That development was eligible for $10 million from the area’s tax increment financing district as well as money from the “aldermanic menu” fund controlled by Austin to be used for infrastructure projects in the ward, including road resurfacing, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, Austin accepted new kitchen cabinets — worth $5,250 — in June 2017 from the developer. The next month, the firm gave Austin two “brand new” and “expensive” sump pumps and had a representative of the firm buy and install a new dehumidifier in her home, the indictment states.
Austin also asked the developer to install new “bathroom tiles in white or vein white,” in her home, according to the indictment.
In October 2017, the firm agreed to pay for a portion of a new heating and air conditioning system at Wilson’s property because, as one unnamed individual told Wilson, “You help me a lot, and I’ll help you,” according to the indictment. Another unnamed individual said, “[If] I get what I want next week, it’s worth it” to pay for the upgrades to the property owned by Wilson, according to the indictment.
Wilson and Austin also had granite countertops installed at their properties as part of the scheme, according to the indictment.
Wilson’s hearing was delayed temporarily by a lockdown due to a “security investigation” at the Dirksen Federal Building Wednesday afternoon. A courthouse spokesperson said the U.S. Marshals Service ordered employees to shelter in place while access to the building was restricted for nearly an hour.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
