Yvette Townsend Ingram releases statement on arrest warrant

CHARLOTTE — For the first time, Mecklenburg County Democratic Commissioner Yvette Townsend Ingram is releasing a statement on the order for arrest issued to her.

Channel 9 first reported earlier this week that there is an active arrest warrant for Ingram stemming from her 2024 DWI arrest. The Order for Arrest alleges she didn’t complete her court-mandated community service as part of her guilty plea.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Ingram said she completed her community service hours but failed to report them properly.

“What I failed to do is report it appropriately because I could never reach the Mecklenburg County representative I was permitted to report to,” she said. “I do have documented evidence of my community service hours.”

Ingram says she learned of the order for arrest when contacted by a local reporter on February 3. That is when Channel 9 Government Reporter Joe Bruno reached out to her. She says neither the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office nor her former attorney advised her of the pending matter. She has now hired a new attorney.

“I have retained new counsel who is helping me to resolve the issue. I am not careless, irresponsible or unaccountable as a few would imply,” she said. “I am confident this offense and attack on me will be resolved, but not likely before the March 3, 2026 Primary Election, which is why I believe this attack has surfaced now after languishing for more than one year.”

Ingram is one of 10 Democrats running for one of three at-large seats on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.

Full statement: “I first want to thank you for your professionalism, integrity, and fairness in contacting me to get my side of the story and the context of what I believe is a politically motivated attack. I also want to thank my Mecklenburg County colleagues and especially our hardworking staff who have supported me and treated me with kindness and respect. Lastly, I want to thank the many friends, community leaders, and supporters who have reached out to me personally to show how very much I am valued in this community. My supporters far outnumber those who would believe hurtful and misleading information about my character and my work in the community.

There are two things I want the public to know, especially those civic-minded voters who will go to the polls to vote beginning February 12, 2026. First, I was advised to plead guilty by my attorney at the time to a DWI because the police, who were called to perform a welfare check on me and found me in a parked car asleep, with the engine running because of the May heat with an open container of alcohol. I was arrested for a DWI as a result. I was never driving. As a matter-of-fact, I was in the midst of a mental health crisis after losing six family members consecutively, including my mom.

Secondly, I did fulfill all the required alcohol/drug rehab classes and the 24 community service hours per court mandate. Most of the 24 hours were completed prior to my swearing-in on December 2, 2024, so as not to conflate my community service with my county work. What I failed to do is report it appropriately because I could never reach the Mecklenburg County representative I was permitted to report to. I do have documented evidence of my community service hours.

I learned about the OFA from an email sent to me by a local reporter on February 3, 2026. I was not sent this information by Gaston County Police or my former attorney when the warrant was issued more than one year ago in February 2025. I have retained new counsel who is helping me to resolve the issue. I am not careless, irresponsible or unaccountable as a few would imply. I am confident this offense and attack on me will be resolved, but not likely before the March 3, 2026 Primary Election, which is why I believe this attack has surfaced now after languishing for more than one year.

Thanks again for your fairness and integrity in reporting the news, which is so critically important during these polarizing and tumultuous times. Please be sure to remind our community that early voting in Mecklenburg County is February 12-28, 2026, and the Primary Election is March 3, 2026."

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