Former southeastern Illinois police chief faces federal charges

[January 24, 2025]  By Beth Hundsdorfer

Phillip Brown called his motorcycle Elvira: Mistress of the Night – the custom 2000 Harley Davidson he built with flames licking the black tank and fenders, plenty of chrome and a $5,000 motor.

That motorcycle is now at the center of a two-count federal indictment in the southern district of Illinois in November against then-Wayne City Police Chief Anson Fenton, 46, alleging he sold forfeited or surrendered items for his personal benefit.

Under Illinois law, prosecutors can initiate a process called criminal forfeiture to seize property, assets and proceeds. Forfeiture is a civil action, separate from the criminal case. To gain control of the property, prosecutors must show a judge that it was either used in the commission of the crime or purchased with the proceeds of the crime.

That’s not how Brown, who said he hasn’t had a driver’s license since 1977 and admitted he has more than 20 driving under the influence convictions, lost Elvira. In his case, he agreed to give the bike to Wayne City Police Department as part of a plea agreement in an aggravated DUI case. A repeat offender, Brown was facing prison time.

“They had me where they wanted me. They used the legal system to screw me,” Brown said.

State records show that bike’s title was not transferred to Wayne City but sold outright to a private individual. Federal prosecutors allege Fenton kept the proceeds of the bike’s sale.

Neither Fenton nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment.

The surrendered vehicles

While the surrender was legal and approved by a local judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys – and ultimately agreed to by Brown – what federal prosecutors allege Fenton did with the property wasn’t.

Elvira is one of three surrendered motorcycles listed in the indictment against Fenton. The others include a 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle and a 2017 Harley Davidson. Illinois Secretary of State records show those vehicles formerly belonged to two other Wayne County men.

State records listed Christopher Cunningham as the Hayabusa’s owner. Cunningham was charged in 2022 with felony aggravated fleeing and misdemeanor reckless driving but pleaded guilty to speeding 26 to 34 mph over the limit.

As part of a plea agreement, Cunningham agreed in March 2023 to give his motorcycle to the Wayne City Police Department. Cunningham died six months after the deal in a motorcycle accident.

Federal prosecutors allege that Fenton traded Cunningham’s motorcycle for a 1991 Ford Mustang. State records showed that the motorcycle was titled in Virginia in 2023 and later in Maryland.

Fairfield business owner Jacob Woolever owned the 2017 Harley Davidson. In 2020, Woolever was charged with felonies of aggravated fleeing, aggravated driving under the influence, criminal damage to government property and aggravated battery to a police officer. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to fleeing a police officer, a misdemeanor.

Woolever agreed to surrender the motorcycle as part of a plea agreement in April 2022.

Fenton sold Woolever’s motorcycle, according to the indictment. State records show that it was transferred to an Illinois man, then later titled in Indiana.

Woolever declined to comment.

In addition to his job as the Wayne City police chief, Fenton began working for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in August 2016. His status with the sheriff’s office isn’t clear, but as part of his pre-trial release conditions, he is not allowed to carry a firearm. Sheriff Chris Otey did not return calls seeking comment.

In total, the indictment alleges Fenton received more than $10,000 in benefits from the vehicles surrendered by Cunningham, Brown and Woolever. He is scheduled to go to trial on those charges in March.

A court document shows the items Phillip Brown agreed to surrender as part of his plea deal with prosecutors in an aggravated DUI case. Former Wayne City Police Chief Anson Fenton was indicted for allegedly selling a motorcycle surrendered by Brown for personal gain. (Wayne County court order)

‘Financial interest for prosecutors’

While prosecutors contend that Fenton’s alleged crimes are a violation of the law, advocates for reforming criminal forfeiture laws say the way forfeiture laws are written makes them ripe for exploitation.

In Illinois, the link between the crime and the property can be very loose in forfeiture cases, said Ed Yohnka, spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Prosecutors alleged the vehicles surrendered in these three cases were used in the commission of crimes, but instead of filing a civil action to take possession of the vehicles, prosecutors opted to have defendants surrender them as part of a plea bargain.

Former Wayne County State’s Attorney Kevin Kakac, who was the prosecutor when the three defendants made their deals, responded in 2021 to written questions from a Capitol News Illinois reporter who was looking into forfeitures in the county, including Brown’s motorcycle, three years before the federal indictment.

Brown surrendered vehicles as part of a deal that disposed of his criminal cases, Kakac wrote in the email. He described the deal as a “bargain for exchange.” Kakac retired as Wayne County state’s attorney in November.

Wayne County Judge Michael Molt, who approved the deal, retired in November.

Kyle Ellis, who was appointed to replace Kakac, provided copies of the plea agreements that show Cunningham, Brown and Woolever signed over their vehicles, but he did not answer whether he would continue the practice during his tenure.

This process is legal in Illinois, but Yohnka said the ACLU finds it concerning.

“This practice creates a financial interest for prosecutors and law enforcement in the criminal case that does not otherwise exist,” Yohnka said.

Vehicles seized by a court order must be used by a law enforcement entity for operational purposes or sold to fund them. A defendant has 28 days to appeal a forfeiture in a criminal case.

But the fate of surrendered vehicles is murkier. Unlike forfeited vehicles, they aren’t reported to the Illinois State Police and there is no established legal remedy to regain the property without reinstating the criminal charges.

“Unlike civil forfeitures, these kinds of forfeitures can’t be appealed. There’s no process for it without undoing the entire plea agreement,” Yohnka said.

Brown said he didn’t want to serve a long sentence and said he felt pressured to take the deal offered by the prosecutors. Part of that deal included the surrender of his beloved Elvira and a 1997 Mercedes with 62,000 miles.

They brought him the titles to sign while he was sitting in the Wayne County Jail, Brown said. State records showed the car’s ownership was transferred to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in March 2021.

It took three years for Brown’s Mercedes to be auctioned, records show. It happened just after he was released from prison. Brown is friends with the man who bought it and has seen it parked in his driveway.

Elvira was transferred to a third party, then sold and titled in Indiana.

Brown doesn’t expect to see the bike again, though on Elvira’s rear fender, Brown painted a message in orange flames that he hopes one day will come true: “CU L8TER.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.