Two Chicago police officers, a city firefighter and a former Water Department employee have been indicted on federal fraud charges alleging they lied about their employment and income for years to qualify for housing subsidies administered by the Chicago Housing Authority. The cases, filed in four separate indictments, charge each defendant with defrauding a government program and wire fraud.
No Barrington-specific information is present in the provided material; the charges and allegations center on Chicago agencies and personnel.
The indictments
Charged are Fredrick White, 37, and Sherry Chester, 44, both veterans of the Chicago Police Department; Kaneasha Twyman, 37, a firefighter and paramedic; and Tyrone Coleman, 61, a retired hoisting engineer with the city’s Department of Water Management.
Coleman pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday before U.S. District Judge John Kness, according to court records. His attorney, Chris Hotaling, declined to comment. Arraignments for White, Twyman and Chester were scheduled for later in the month. It was not clear on the public docket whether White or Twyman had hired lawyers.
Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Chester declined to comment, saying she had just learned of the charges and had yet to hire an attorney.
A Chicago police spokesperson confirmed White is on active status and assigned to the Harrison (11th) District. Chester is on inactive status from the 8th District and currently detailed to a nonemergency callback unit, the spokesperson said. The Chicago Fire Department did not immediately respond to questions about Twyman’s status.
What the charges say
According to the indictment against White, he was registered with the Chicago Housing Authority as a disabled veteran since 2014 and received vouchers for monthly rental assistance and other “periodic credits.” On forms certifying his eligibility, prosecutors allege, White claimed his only income was from his veteran’s benefits and failed to disclose his employment as a Chicago police officer as well as additional income he received as a private security guard.
Chester, according to her indictment, was already receiving housing vouchers under the same program when she was hired by the Chicago Police Department. In 2022, after the CHA notified her that the subsidies would be canceled because of her job, Chester allegedly submitted documents falsely claiming she had moved out of her subsidized unit and provided a false new address. Prosecutors say she also submitted a phony lease purporting to show she had moved out, along with a signed statement “falsely stating that she had relinquished her housing voucher” to a relative who had been living with her in the CHA-subsidized unit. In reality, the indictment states, Chester continued living in the CHA-subsidized unit for another two years before being removed from the program.
The indictment against Twyman alleges she failed to disclose her employment with the Chicago Fire Department to the CHA for more than five years while receiving housing benefits. When confronted in late 2022, Twyman denied in an email that she was employed by the city and demanded a hearing, according to the charges. In 2023, prosecutors allege, Twyman “testified falsely under oath at a CHA hearing that she had never been employed by the City of Chicago and had no income.”
Twyman is featured in numerous social media posts — some in full Chicago Fire Department uniform — touting her position as a firefighter/EMT, “breaking barriers and inspiring future generations.” She could not immediately be reached for comment, according to the provided material.
According to Coleman’s indictment, he had been receiving living assistance from the CHA as a “zero-income” tenant since at least 1994. From 2016 to 2022, prosecutors allege, Coleman was employed full time as a hoisting engineer with the Department of Water Management, earning a full salary and overtime, and also received disability-related payments for at least one of those years. In March 2022, Coleman applied for a hardship voucher claiming he was going to be evicted from his $75-a-month subsidized apartment because of an inability to pay, the indictment states. The CHA waived his minimum rent payment of $41, according to the charges.
Status and next steps
Each case remains at the indictment stage, and the defendants are presumed innocent. Coleman has entered a not-guilty plea; the other three defendants are due in court later this month for arraignments, according to the provided records. It was not immediately clear whether White or Twyman had retained counsel as of the latest filings. Chester told a reporter she had yet to hire an attorney.
The indictments outline alleged deceptions that, if proven, would have diverted limited housing resources by concealing city jobs and income. The CHA’s subsidy rules and eligibility certifications sit at the center of the cases, which describe false statements on forms, alleged misrepresentations during administrative hearings, and, in one instance, a fabricated lease and purported transfer of a voucher to a relative. As the cases proceed, court filings and future hearings are expected to determine whether the government can prove those allegations and, if so, whether restitution or other penalties will follow.
For now, the charges frame a stark question of public trust: whether people employed to serve the city — in police, fire and water management roles — exploited a safety-net program by hiding paychecks and public positions. The answers will come in federal court, where the evidence, not the allegations, will decide the outcome.
