State Rep. Micky Hammon on Monday pleaded guilty to devising a scheme to commit mail fraud, according to a release from the office of United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr.

The 60-year-old Hammon, who is a member of the Limestone County Legislative Delegation, has represented the Fourth District (Limestone and Morgan counties) in the Alabama House of Representatives since 2003. Until earlier this year, he served as House majority leader.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross is prosecuting the case.

“I am proud of my office’s efforts to root out this corruption and I am most grateful for the tireless work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, which investigated this case,” Franklin said in the release. “I hope that this prosecution will, in some small way, restore Alabamians’ trust in their state legislature.”

In the coming months, United States District Myron H. Thompson will sentence Hammon. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, as well as monetary penalties.

The allegation

According to court documents, Hammon used campaign money to pay his own personal expenses. Specifically, in 2013, Hammon created a principal campaign committee through the Secretary of State’s Office. This principal campaign committee allowed Hammon to begin raising money for his re-election campaign.

“(State) law strictly limits the ways that Hammon’s campaign could use that money,” the release said. “Generally speaking, the campaign could use donations only to support Hammon’s re-election or legislative work. He was not supposed to use the money for his own personal expenses.”

After registering with the Secretary of State, Hammon’s campaign raised money from various donors. Some of these donors mailed their donations to Hammon’s campaign office.

Upon receiving a campaign donation check, Hammon would endorse the check and deposit it into his campaign’s bank account. Hammon would then write a check drawn on the campaign account to himself. After doing so, Hammon would deposit that check into his own personal bank account and use the money to pay for his own personal expenses.

“Self-dealing by elected officials erodes society’s confidence in its governmental institutions,” Franklin said. “Self-dealing is precisely what occurred here. Those who donated to Representative Hammon’s campaign expected that the campaign would use those resources lawfully and to foster an informative public debate. Instead, Representative Hammon placed those funds into his own personal piggy bank.”

Indictment hush-hush?

Hammon announced in July that he would not seek re-election to his District 4 seat, though word about a potential indictment was never made public. Hammon stepped down from the House leadership role in February. Fellow Republican House member Ed Henry of Hartselle accused Hammon of pushing a “watered-down and lukewarm” agenda. Henry also accused Hammon of not communicating with members.

Hammon is probably best known as being the primary sponsor of House Bill 56, the state’s controversial immigration bill regarded by some as the “show me your papers bill.”

In a press release issued by his office in July, Hammon said he also played a role in creating “wide-ranging ethics reforms.”