Jim Dey: State lays out case for how $1.8 million grant to local entrepreneur went missing

Oct. 7—What happened to the $1.8 million in state grant money received by a local entrepreneur and motivational speaker who works for Urbana state Rep. Carol Ammons?

A recent civil court filing by the Illinois Attorney General's Office charges Sally K. Carter with "embezzlement." It alleges she is trying to cover it up in bankruptcy court through "numerous false oaths and knowing and fraudulent omissions" in her legal filings and testimony.

The AG's filing, which seeks to block expungement of the debt, alleges Carter paid herself an "exorbitant" salary, made personal purchases and dispensed cash to close relatives. It represents the state's latest effort to recover the grant funds.

Champaign County Circuit Judge Jason Bohm in February ordered Carter to repay the $1.8 million debt. She responded by filing for bankruptcy.

Carter acknowledged $600,000 in debts and $118,000 in assets, but curiously described the grant debt as "unknown."

Neither Carter nor her lawyer, Roger Prillaman of Urbana, responded to inquiries.

The bankruptcy case has been peculiar from the start.

Court trustee James Inghram held several hearings where Carter testified.

But under questioning from Assistant Attorney General Shannon DeLaMar, Carter offered vague, changing answers about both her finances and the multiple corporate entities she oversees.

DeLaMar's filing notes Carter did not disclose to the state a $65,000 debt she owed to the Illinois State Board of Education when she secured the $1.8 million grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services.

The debt to the state education board stems from a five-year $5.4 million grant it provided to Carter's Tap In Leadership Academy.

It was supposed to fund after-school programs for at-risk Champaign students from 2011-16. But Champaign school district officials considered the effort a failure and terminated it ahead of schedule.

Carter got the grant from the human services department in 2016. But state officials said she dropped off the radar, failing to respond to inquiries or file required reports.

As executive director of Tap In, Carter allegedly "treated the (corporate) assets" as "her own," the filing alleges.

She allegedly "double-billed the department," paid herself an "excessive salary" of $193,135 and financed a family vacation to Las Vegas.

The filing states Carter put her 16-year old daughter, Jazzlyn, on the Tap In board and paid her roughly $23,000 over three years.

It also alleges she paid her sister, Cornicha Henderson, roughly $233,000 from 2013 to 2016 for work as a "director" of a non-existent program.

Tap In's board included Carter's husband, James; her mother, Emma Barron; and her sister Monique Pierre.

Her bankruptcy filing also claimed she and her husband are separated, and he's not involved. But the attorney general's office said Carter was "living with her husband" in Savoy when she filed for bankruptcy, misidentifying his residence as one in Urbana.

In addition to Tap In Academy, Carter oversees other enterprises — Sally K. Carter Consulting, One Square, Four Sides and the Royal Academy in Arcola. The latest court filing identified another one omitted from Carter's bankruptcy filing — the Royal Angels Foundation.

The filing said the foundation's goal was to provide "financial support" to Royal Academy, a day care center in Arcola. Its nonprofit status was revoked in October 2022 by the Internal Revenue Service for failing to file required paperwork. Its corporate status was "dissolved" in August by the Illinois Secretary of State for the same reason.

The attorney general's office said that "raises a question" as to what Carter did with money raised by the Royal Angels Foundation.

In addition to missing money, there are questions surrounding four vehicles that Tap In acquired in a 2016 transfer from the "Multicultural Community Center." They were described as a "camper," an "Econoline Van," a "3000 series bus" and another "3000 Services 3800 bus."

The status of the fourth vehicle, the attorney general's office said, is "unknown."

But the filing states Carter improperly sold the other bus to the University of Illinois for $10,000 while transferring the van to her husband and the camper to another individual. It asserts she had "no legal justification for converting the vehicles to her own use."

Carter faces an Oct. 29 deadline to respond to the attorney general office's filing.