Aisha Carr Faces New Felony Charges

Aisha Carr. Photo courtesy of Aisha 4 Milwaukee.

Former Milwaukee Public School Board Member Aisha Carr is facing fresh charges for campaign finance violations following charges last year for fraud and misconduct in public office.

Carr is facing 11 separate counts of class I felonies, which are the lowest in Wisconsin, for allegedly intentionally filing false campaign finance reports, forgery and unlawfully spending campaign finance funds.

In a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office reported that it uncovered the alleged evidence of campaign finance violations and forgery while investigating Carr for misconduct in public office and fraud related to her time as a school board member, as well as another case against her bringing charges of alleged FoodShare Benefit fraud, also uncovered during the investigation.

Carr resigned her seat on the school board in May 2024, following a scandal involving her placing a recording device in an MPS administration office. In August that year she was charged with felony misconduct in public office for unlawfully claiming to live in the district she represented while living elsewhere.

The new charges brought against Carr allege she fraudulently listed a person, identified in the criminal complaint as LM, as her campaign account treasurer. Investigators interviewed LM, who told them she was not the treasurer, was not involved in the campaign and has not spoken to Carr in years.

Review of accounts connected to Carr and her campaign showed Carr received and spent more than $34,000 while only reporting $23,304 in expenditures. Discrepancies in finance reports and bank account statements also leave a total of $15,753.77 in funds unaccounted for, according to the criminal complaint.

“Carr misappropriated funds that belonged to her campaign by using those funds for her personal expenses and expenses not related to her campaign,” the criminal complain alleges.

Many disbursements were made using debit or cash withdrawals, which are a violation of campaign finance law, and others were used for personal expenses, according to the criminal complaint. Carr was the only signatory on her campaign accounts, which were also co-mingled with her own personal funds.

Carr is represented by Attorney Daniel Adams, who filed a motion earlier this month to suppress the evidence collected for the charges relating to FoodShare benefit fraud. In the motion, Adams contends that the DA’s office asked a state Department of Health Services (DHS) investigator to review FoodShare records without cause and without a warrant. The district attorney’s office sought the records after Carr provided a copy of her FoodShare application during an interview with investigators, according to Adams’ motion, which characterizes the search as a “fishing expedition.” Judge Jorge Fragoso, who is presiding over cases against Carr, has not yet issued a decision on the motion, according to circuit court records.

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