East Aurora school board member charged in federal case over $2.7 million air purifier purchase

A member of the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education faces federal charges accusing her of using her position to steer the district into buying wearable air purifiers from a company that paid her, according to charging documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.^{1, 2} The board member, Annette Johnson, was the board’s president at the time, prosecutors say.^{1, 2}

The charges are allegations, and Johnson has not been convicted of any crime.¹ Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Kane County Chronicle reported.¹ Johnson also did not immediately respond to the Chicago Sun-Times.²

What prosecutors allege

The indictment accuses Johnson of taking a $1.3 million payment from a company she worked for in exchange for pushing the district to spend $2.7 million on wearable air purifiers sold by a reseller.^{1, 2} Prosecutors say the scheme ran from August 2021 to May 2023 and used federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief money, the COVID-era aid sent to schools.^{1, 2}

During that time Johnson sat on the district’s Finance and Personnel Committee and was chief financial officer of one company and connected to two others tied to the air purifiers, according to the indictment.^{1, 2} None of those companies is named in the charging documents, the Sun-Times reported.² She is accused of hiding her connection to the deal.¹

Before the purchase, Johnson set up meetings between the reseller’s representatives and board members, the Sun-Times reported.² In May 2023, prosecutors say, she also promoted an added payment of $201,077 to the air purifier company for annual services.¹ The Sun-Times described that payment as an “extended warranty” and reported that she voted for it.²

The companies paid Johnson $7,500 in 2023, which she did not list on the statement of economic interests she filed with Kane County, as required, the indictment says.^{1, 2}

Johnson faces wire fraud charges, which a federal grand jury approved in November 2025, according to the Sun-Times.²

The district’s response

The district’s board and superintendent said in a statement that the indictment reflects serious allegations about the district’s 2021 purchase of air purifiers, ABC7 Chicago reported.³ “While the allegations made against Ms. Johnson are incredibly serious and concerning, Ms. Johnson, like all other defendants, is entitled to a presumption of innocence,” the district said.¹

The indictment does not name any other current board member, administrator or employee as a co-defendant, the district said.^{1, 3} “The District has and will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities in any continued investigation of these matters,” it said.^{1, 3}

Johnson’s term on the board runs through April 2029, according to the district’s website.^{1, 2}