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Jerame Simmons received a pardon from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and
went on to become chief of the Prairie Du Pont Fire department
in St. Claire last December. Simmons pleaded guilty to arson
when he was 18 after setting fire to a vacant house, then
another small blaze at a high school.
Simmons has had several other run-ins with the law, including in
2008 for falsely impersonating a police officer, a 2016 charge
of disorderly conduct, and another charge of disorderly conduct
in 2018, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.
In his petition for clemency, the son of the former director of
the St. Clair County Management Agency claimed innocence in the
arson case and submitted testimony from local officials
attesting to his character. Pritzker signed Simmon’s pardon last
May.
State Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, has introduced House Bill
5693, which requires any person applying for a job as a
firefighter to disclose if they have been convicted of arson.
“So you plead guilty to arson and then you become fire chief,”
Friess said during a news conference Wednesday. “It absolutely
floors me that this can happen.”
Eleven of the department’s 13 firefighters resigned following
the fire protection district’s decision to oust the former chief
in favor of Simmons.
Volunteers who stepped down released a statement on social media
accusing the board of trustees of violating the Open Meetings
Act of Illinois when they previously promoted Simmons to
assistant fire chief behind closed doors without a vote.
State Rep. Mark Luft, R-Pekin, said this wouldn’t have happened
if not for the governor's pardon.
“Pritzker’s pardon is a slap in the face to all the hard
working, honest firefighters throughout our state who put
themselves in harm's way every day,” Luft said.
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