He insists that he’s not guilty—that he kept careful records and had the same account with ShoreBank for 15 years, so they knew exactly where the loan money was going. “I thought about taking a plea. I don’t want to go to trial. It costs so much—so much. But how can I take a felony for something I didn’t do?”
As we approach Laramie and Division, Ford interrupts himself to point out a single-family home he rehabbed a few years ago. He pauses a moment before resuming.
“I’m sure people look at me now and question my integrity, and that hurts more than anything,” he says. “Living in the neighborhood where I grew up and knowing I go out on the corners and talk to the people who are not in school, who are probably selling drugs, who are struggling with life, and just saying, ‘Just go to school, stay away from drugs, do the right thing, and then you can make it’—and now they’re looking at me, because they think that I’m in bank fraud. Or they think, ‘Man, I know he did the right thing and guess what? He’s in worse shape than I ever could be in. He’s got 17 counts!’
“It’s horrible. But who am I to not be persecuted? I mean, they persecuted Jesus Christ, and I’m no comparison to him.”
A trial could be months away. In the meantime, Ford says has no plans to resign and is trying to focus on his work. He wants legislators to try to slow or stop the school closings, and he plans to introduce legislation that would essentially replicate Chicago’s pot ticketing policy statewide, potentially keeping thousands of people out of jail or prison. “We’ll keep fighting,” he says.
Article Appeared @http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/03/15/state-rep-la-shawn-ford-advocate-for-ex-offenders-hopes-he-doesnt-become-one