‘I’m still very well respected,’ Tiawana Brown says after first court appearance
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Council member Tiawana Brown indicted
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Charlotte City Council Member Tiawana Brown made her first appearance in federal court on Friday, pleading not guilty to allegations that she lied to obtain a pandemic relief loan and used it for her own birthday party.
Her daughters, both charged with her in a federal fraud indictment, also appeared in court in Charlotte and pleaded not guilty.
United States Magistrate Judge Susan Rodriguez gave all three unsecured $25,000 bonds. Rodriguez denied their requests to keep their passports.
Brown, 53, was elected to the council in 2023 and said Thursday after news of her indictment broke that she does not plan to resign.
In the 1990s, she served several years in prison after being convicted of fraud.
Now, if convicted again, she could spend decades in prison. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Warren said Friday that the maximum sentence for wire fraud is 20 years of incarceration, a $250,000 fine and three years on supervised release.
Conspiring to commit wire fraud — another charge she faces — carries the same maximum penalties.
What happened in court
Friday’s arraignments were a routine first step in the criminal trial process.
One of Brown’s attorneys, Rob Heroy, argued that she should be able to travel around the country and to keep her passport for international travel. Along with her job on city council, Brown works for American Airlines and runs a nonprofit that helps people who have been incarcerated, he noted.
“I do this work for men and women all over the world,” Brown claimed at one point as Heroy and Rodriguez discussed the council member’s request to keep her passport.
But Rodriguez ordered that she hand over her passport. The judge said defendants in other cases have fled the country before. The court will handle her requests to leave the country case by case, the judge said, and Brown can travel across the United States.
Because of her nonprofit’s work, Brown will also be allowed to talk to convicted felons.
The judge gave her permission to speak to her daughters but urged them to not discuss the charges they face.
“You’ve been very kind today,” Brown told Rodriguez after her arraignment. “I hope you have a great day.”
She was joined by a second high-profile lawyer on Friday, Michael Greene. He is also representing her now.
Daughters asked to keep passports for trips abroad
Both Tijema Brown and Antionette Rouse asked to keep their passports so they could go on trips they had already planned outside the United States.
Rouse planned to go to Europe in July to celebrate being accepted into nursing school, attorney Habekah Cannon said.
Tijema Brown planned to go to Jamaica and Tampa, attorney Kimberly Best said.
Rodriguez wanted to know more about the trips — where specifically they would be, who would join and other details. The daughters could file motions with more information, the judge said.
She denied them their passports.
Tijema Brown is limited to traveling in the Western District of North Carolina. Rouse can go between Georgia and North Carolina because she lives in Atlanta.
Brown touts reputation
Surrounded by reporters on her way out of the courthouse, Tiawana Brown cited her reputation.
“I’m still very well respected,” she said.
She added that the community still trusts her and that resigning is “not an option.” The charges she faces have “nothing to do with” her seat on city council, she said.
At one point she waved to a man driving an Amazon delivery truck and spoke with him briefly, then declared, “I love the people.”
She and her daughters got into a car near the federal courthouse and left together.
“I won every precinct,” were her parting words when asked if she felt supported by her constituents.
It’s unclear if the three will go to trial together.
“We have not made that decision at this point,” Cannon said. “It is definitely an option.”
Heroy said he expected for all three to go to trial together. That would be the normal course, he said.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published May 23, 2025 at 1:29 PM.