State Legislator Micky Ray Hammon Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud

       Montgomery, Ala. –    State Representative Micky Ray Hammon, 60 years old, of Decatur, Alabama, pleaded guilty on Monday, September 25, 2017 to devising a scheme to commit mail fraud, announced United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr.  Hammon has represented the Fourth District in the Alabama House of Representatives since 2003.  Until earlier this year, Hammon served as the House of Representative’s majority leader.

       According to court documents, Hammon, through his mail fraud scheme, used campaign money to pay his own personal expenses.  Specifically, in 2013, Hammon created a principal campaign committee through the Secretary of States Office.  This principal campaign committee allowed Hammon to begin raising money for his reelection campaign.  Alabama law strictly limits the ways that Hammon’s campaign could use that money.  Generally speaking, the campaign could use donations only to support Hammon’s reelection or legislative work.  He was not supposed to use the money for his own personal expenses.  After registering with the Secretary of State, Hammon’s campaign raised money from various donors.  Some of these donors mailed their donations to Hammon’s campaign office.   

       Upon receiving a campaign donation check, Hammon would endorse the check and deposit it into his campaign’s bank account.  Hammon would then write a check drawn on the campaign account to himself.  After doing so, Hammon would deposit that check into his own personal bank account and use the money to pay for his own personal expenses. 

       In the coming months, United States District Myron H. Thompson will sentence Hammon.  At sentencing, Hammon faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, as well as monetary penalties. 

       “Self-dealing by elected officials erodes society’s confidence in its governmental institutions,” stated Untied States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr.  “Self-dealing is precisely what occurred here.  Those who donated to Representative Hammon’s campaign expected that the campaign would use those resources lawfully and to foster an informative public debate.  Instead, Representative Hammon placed those funds into his own personal piggy bank.  I am proud of my office’s efforts to root out this corruption and I am most grateful for the tireless work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, which investigated this case.  I hope that this prosecution will, in some small way, restore Alabamians’ trust in their state legislature.” 

       This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross is prosecuting the case.