(CHICAGO) Former State Rep. Connie Howard, a once-prominent South Side Democrat, was sentenced Tuesday to three months in prison for fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield.
Howard, 72, admitted in July 2013 that she siphoned $28,000 of $76,700 raised by her “Tee Off For Technology Celebrity Golf Outing” between July 2003 and February 2008, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. That money went for her “personal and political use, including expenses associated with the promotion of her campaign,” according to prosecutors.
As a lawmaker, Howard chaired the House Computer Technology Committee. Her golf charity was billed as a way to raise scholarship money for students pursuing computer-science degrees.
Howard took her seat in the House in 1995. She abruptly resigned in July 2012 citing “personal reasons” after federal investigators subpoenaed records from two state agencies about the Let’s Talk, Let’s Test Foundation, an AIDS awareness group she created.
