Election Fraud Cases

Dolores Croy

Dolores Croy pleaded guilty to voter fraud during the 2003 Democratic Primary in East Chicago, Indiana. She and her husband registered to vote and sent absentee ballots to the East Chicago voting district, using their business address. The couple's home address was actually in Hobart. Although both charges were Class D felonies, the charges were drastically reduced, and the couple only had to make a public apology and serve probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3iOfTrM, https://herit.ag/3i5WG5C

Robert Croy

Robert Croy pleaded guilty to voter fraud during the 2003 Democratic Primary in East Chicago, Indiana. He and his wife registered to vote and sent absentee ballots to the East Chicago voting district, using their business address. The couple's home address was actually in Hobart, IN. Although both charges were class D felonies, the charges were drastically reduced and the couple only had to make a public apology and serve probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3iOfTrM, https://herit.ag/3i5WG5C

Willard Smith

Willard Smith was convicted of conspiracy to buy votes and vote buying in the May 1998 Knott County primary election. He was accused of paying impoverished, handicapped, illiterate, or otherwise impaired persons to vote for Knott County Judge-Executive Donnie Newsome by absentee ballot. Smith was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/2XLMGqR, https://herit.ag/3BPBIzN

Nathaniel Gosha and Lizzie Mae Perry

Nathaniel Gosha was convicted of 25 counts (nine felony counts of falsifying ballots and 16 counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument) of voter fraud for offering to sell absentee votes in Russell County. Another Russell County resident, Lizzie Mae Perry, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of falsifying absentee ballots and two misdemeanor counts of disclosing votes. Gosha was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 4.5 years of probation, and $2,600 in court fines. Perry was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 18 months' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BLlLe6

Larry Gray

Larry Gray was charged with illegally casting more than 25 absentee ballots in other people's names during the 2002 primary, but the sum total of his election fraud may have been much higher. The former sanitation director for the city applied for hundreds of ballots, successfully submitting 98 in the Democratic primary. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Gray was likely not the only one running this type of scheme. After pleading guilty, Gray received two years' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/2TIUXKo, https://herit.ag/3l2K6WU, https://herit.ag/3x2sVHe

Hector Riellano

Hector Riellano admitted to failing to acknowledge assisting someone with the filing of their absentee ballot. He was fined $350 by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission.

Source: bit.ly/2u4xi8p

Paulette Park

Paulette Park, while working for a candidate for Bridgeport's 2000 Democratic Town Committee primary election, illegally persuaded voters to list false reasons for requesting absentee ballots, assisted them in applying for absentee ballots, and took possession of the absentee ballots after watching voters fill them out. The State of Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission fined her $5,000 and banned her from working on future campaigns.

Source: https://herit.ag/3hPuh3q

Sybil Allen

Sybil Allen, while serving as a Democrat on the Bridgeport Town Committee, engaged in a range of absentee ballot-related fraud. Allen completed ballot applications in the name of residents, forged signatures, and on at least one occasion got a voter to forge a ballot registration form for a family member who no longer lived in the community. Allen also told one voter that a candidate was not on the ballot and watched voters fill out their ballots before taking possession of them. Allen eventually agreed to pay a civil fine of $5,000 and was barred from running for re-election for two years.

Source: https://herit.ag/3ECg1Vx

Warren Blunt

Warren Blunt, a city councilman in Bridgeport, pleaded guilty to being present while people cast their absentee ballots and subsequently taking those ballots while running for re-election in the town's Democratic primary. The State of Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission fined Blunt $2,500 and required him to resign from the town committee. He was also barred from running for elected office again for two years.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x8iulm

Ronald Caveness

As part of a "get out the vote" campaign leading up to the 2000 election, Ronald Caveness admitted to distributing absentee ballots, being present while people filled them out, and then collecting them. After an investigation by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission, he agreed to resign from the Democratic Town Committee, not seeking re-election for two years, and pay a fine of $4,000, which was eventually reduced to $1,000.

Source: https://herit.ag/2XI0bYH

Gary and Leila Blake

After moving from their Evansville home, Gary and Leila Blake requested absentee ballots. The ballots were returned with Evansville offices and ballot issues, which the couple filled out and returned despite no longer living there. The couple pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge. Each must pay $350 in fines and serve six months on probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l1NaTd

Melvin Lightning and Aaron Evans

Melvin Lightning pleaded guilty to illegal absentee voting. Along with Evans, Lightning forged absentee ballot request forms in the name of other voters. Upon receiving the ballots, the pair took them to the named voters and obtained their signatures on the ballot envelope without telling the voters that they were signing an actual ballot. Lightning then completed and cast the ballots himself. He received a 12-month prison sentence, which was suspended in favor of 12 months' probation. His accomplice, Evans, was convicted in 1998 on seven counts of illegal absentee voting. He got a 10-year prison sentence, eight of which were suspended.

Source: https://herit.ag/3f2Yw5w

Sheriff David Sutherland, Denita Lee, Eugene Emerson, Idas "Spooky" Neal, Jr., Judge Ann Richardson, Jimmy Richardson, Mary Jo Ingram, Scotty Cole, William F. Bailey

An absentee-ballot buying operation was uncovered in Winston County, Alabama, that led to the conviction of the sheriff, circuit clerk, a district judge, and several candidates for county commission and the board of education. The conspirators set out to buy absentee ballots in the 2000 Republican primary with bribes of cash, beer, and liquor. Judge Richardson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report campaign expenditures; the others pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from the operation. Bailey was sentenced to three years' probation, plus a $1,000 fine and 250 hours of community service. Neal got three years' probation, a $2,500 fine, and 250 hours' community service. Ingram was ordered to serve a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine. Emerson got two years' probation. Judge Richardson resigned, and received a suspended six-month prison sentence, one year probation, and a $1,000 fine.

Source: bit.ly/2feojb2

George Cabrera, Jr.

George Cabrera, Jr., entered into a settlement with State of Connecticut Election Enforcement Commission. Cabrera admitted to observing a resident fill out an absentee ballot before taking possession of that ballot during the Democratic primary for town council. Cabrera agreed to pay a $750 fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/3Ey5qe1

Gilda Oliveros

Hialeah Gardens Mayor Gilda Oliveros was convicted of six charges that ranged from voter fraud to asking two of her former employees to murder her then-husband so she could cash in on a $45,000 life insurance policy. She was sentenced to 4.8 years in state prison, but was released on a $100,000 bond to appeal her sentence.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l3JC2O, https://herit.ag/2TEI6J9