Colona Woman Sentenced to 3 1/2 Years in Prison for Tampering with a Federal Witness

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Charity Ann Engholm, 31, of Colona, Ill., was sentenced on May 24, to 42 months in prison for attempting to tamper and conspiring to tamper with a witness in a federal home invasion robbery case. U.S. District Judge Sara L. Darrow also ordered Engholm to serve a three-year term of supervised release following her prison sentence.

Following the arrests of Dalvent Jackson, Deaunta Tyler, and Ledell Tyler on Jan. 8, 2017, for a violent, shots-fired home invasion robbery in Rock Island, Jackson arranged for his girlfriend, Engholm, to approach one of the robbery victims in an attempt to convince the victim to renounce her identification of Jackson as one of the robbers. On Jan. 13, Engholm contacted the victim, offering to pay her $5,000 to renounce the identification. Instead of taking the money, the victim notified the police. 

After Engholm initially was charged with state witness tampering offenses, she agreed to cooperate in the federal investigation of the home invasion robbery. However, in May 2017, having been released on bond from her state charges, Engholm fled to Chicago. Engholm then was charged in federal court with attempting to tamper and conspiring to tamper with a federal witness. She was arrested in Chicago on the federal charges on July 14, 2017, and held in custody. On Oct. 17, 2017, Engholm pleaded guilty to both charges. 

Jackson, Deaunta Tyler, and Ledell Tyler were tried and convicted on federal robbery and firearms charges in November 2017. Jackson and Deaunta Tyler each were sentenced to 30 years in prison.  Sentencing for Ledell Tyler is scheduled for June 29, 2018, in U.S. District Court in Rock Island.  

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Don Allegro, Ryan Finlen, and Kevin Knight. The charges were investigated by the Rock Island Police Department, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.