Rep.-elect LaKesha Womack Faces Felony Charge Over $20,000 Rental Car

Q: Why did it take over six years for authorities to serve the rental car theft summons to the newly elected representative?

There is no confirmed public explanation for the six-plus-year delay. The records that have surfaced show that a criminal summons was issued in January 2020, but Mecklenburg County returned it unserved in February 2020 after officers reported they had been unable to locate Womack. The case then appears to have sat dormant until the summons was reissued and served on Oct. 11, 2026, at a campaign event. What the available reporting does establish is that authorities had trouble finding her early on. A 2019 police report said attempts to locate her were unsuccessful. Womack has said she was homeless at the time and had nowhere to receive mail, and that she did not know a case had been filed. That could help explain why the original summons was not served in 2020, but it does not by itself explain why the case was not re-served for years afterward. Neither court records cited in news reports nor statements from law enforcement have provided a detailed reason for the long gap between the failed 2020 service attempt and the 2026 service. Some outlets explicitly noted that it was “not immediately clear” why the warrant or summons was not served earlier. So the best-supported answer is that the original summons went unserved because authorities said they could not locate her, and the public record does not yet explain why the case was not pursued or served again until she was easily found during her congressional campaign.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 10

$20,000 is the value North Carolina assigned to the rental car that Rep.-elect LaKesha Womack is accused of failing to return in 2019, according to court records.
Last month, Womack was served a criminal summons while campaigning; her first court appearance is now set for Dec. 1 after an earlier post-Election Day hearing was delayed.
Her attorney declined to discuss the charge, and Womack has said only that periods of hardship—including hospitalization for Type 1 diabetes and homelessness—affected her life.
The case does not bar her from taking office, though a conviction with a sentence of at least two years would stop her from voting or serving on committees unless the House acted separately.
Womack still pulled off one of the cycle's bigger upsets, defeating Republican Rep. Tim Moore by just under 3 points after raising only $59,000 to his more than $2 million.