Published on October 28, 2026
Mayor John Laesch is calling on East Aurora School District 131 Board Member, Annette Johnson, to resign from her position on the Board, as well as her position with the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry, as she faces three federal wire fraud charges in connection with an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.
According to recent reports, Johnson is accused of accepting a $1.3 million payment from one of the companies she worked for in exchange for using her position to push the District to make a $2.7 million purchase of wearable air purifiers from a reselling company. In the lead-up to the vote, she allegedly set up meetings between the reselling company’s representatives and Board members.
Mayor Laesch served on the East Aurora School District 131 Board with Johnson from 2015 to 2019 and is calling on her to resign from the Board. “As more information comes to light, Ms. Johnson must step down from her role on the East Aurora School Board and with the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry,” Mayor Laesch said. “This alleged conduct is completely unacceptable, unethical, and violates her oath of office. I look forward to seeing this investigation continue, and hope for justice for families of District 131 and the East Aurora community.”
A federal grand jury approved the charges against Johnson in November of 2025. She is currently set to remain on the Board until April of 2029.
“Now more than ever, we need ethical people in government, and we need more stringent ethics laws that ban this kind of corruption,” Mayor Laesch said. “The City of Aurora passed a comprehensive ethics ordinance this summer, and I will continue to fight for tighter ethics reforms at the local level.”