With sentencing near, Tiawana Brown’s daughter blames her own mother
Antoinette Rouse is blaming her mother — former Charlotte city councilwoman Tiawana Brown — in the COVID-relief fraud case they’ll both be sentenced in later this month.
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Brown and her daughters, Rouse and Tijema Brown, have all pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in a May 2025 case that accused them of submitting false documents and employee records to get COVID-relief funds and then spending the money on Louis Vuitton items and a throne and horse-drawn carriage for Tiawana Brown’s birthday.
Rouse “wouldn’t be here but for her mother,” her federal public defender, John Parke Davis, said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer Friday. “Ms. Rouse is a nursing student with no other criminal record … she’s the least culpable of the defendants here, and probation is the right result.”
Rouse’s attorney added: “I don’t believe she would have been involved in the conduct at all but for her mother (and sister).”
He also said Rouse’s “own background and role in the offense would have made her a good candidate for a diversion result but for the high profile.”
While the family will be sentenced Sept. 22 on just the conspiracy charges, each woman was originally indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina with actually fraudulently wiring the relief money.
Federal prosecutors alleged some funds came through Tiawana Brown’s nonprofit, Beauty After the Bars, which has partnered with the Mecklenburg County Jail and Sheriff Garry McFadden to provide support to incarcerated women.
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After initially dispelling the May 2025 case as a political attack and “deliberate effort to interfere with her re-election,” Brown in February admitted to a wire fraud conspiracy charge in a plea deal with the U.S. government. Her daughters soon followed.
Brown previously represented District 3 as Charlotte’s first ever formerly incarcerated council member. She was in prison in the 1990s on federal fraud charges and gave birth to Tijema Brown while serving time.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office in a plea agreement said they would not to recommend prison time for Tiawana Brown. Sentencings, however, are ultimately up to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell.
In the nine months between denying and later admitting to fraud, Brown released a book detailing her life, including her path from giving birth in prison and becoming an elected leader in the country’s 14th largest city.
“As history has shown, [Tiawana] Brown is not someone you can keep down,” attorney Rob Heroy said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “She is ready to put this painful chapter behind her and keep moving forward.”
Tijema Brown’s attorney, Jimmy Quander, said: “My client and I will address the Court regarding the relevant facts and circumstances, and we are hopeful the Court will consider the full context of this matter at sentencing.”
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Ferguson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published September 4, 2026 at 3:31 PM.
