Election Fraud Cases
Michael DeFilippo, a Bridgeport City councilman and Democrat Party-endorsed candidate, was charged by the federal government with one count of conspiracy against rights, 3 counts of identity theft, and 11 counts of fraudulent registration after conspiring with others to request and submit fraudulent absentee ballots to be elected to the Bridgeport City Council during the 2017 and 2018 primary elections and the 2018 general election, which he won. DeFilippo, and others acting at his direction, fraudulently submitted Democratic political party affiliation applications and falsely registered and submitted absentee ballots on behalf of local university students who rented properties from DeFilippo. In some cases, he and the conspirators would assist his tenants with applications and in others, he would alter or forge party affiliation applications or request absentee ballots on their behalf, knowing those tenants did not meet criteria to vote absentee. In some cases, DeFilippo stole ballots from his tenants which he and his co-conspirators would fill out and fraudulently sign. DeFilippo, who resigned from the City Council after he was indicted, pleaded guilty to one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law in exchange for dismissal of the other charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Source: herit.ag/3WpCK1L , herit.ag/3WnTOFw , herit.ag/3Ydb6ql , herit.ag/3WBrIqB
The results of the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut Democratic mayoral primary election, which was held on September 12, 2023, were overturned due to absentee ballot fraud in an election where only 251 votes separated the winner (Joseph Ganim) and the loser (John Gomes). Superior Court Judge William Clark ordered that a new primary election between Ganim (the party-endorsed candidate) and Gomes (the challenger) should be held because an unusually large number of absentee ballots that were counted had been illegally placed in drop boxes by two unauthorized ballot distributors who were Ganim supporters: Wanda Geter-Pataky (a Democratic Town Committee member and the Leader of Voting District 136) and Eneida Martinez (a candidate for City Council). The court determined that videos of Geter-Pataky and Martinez illegally dropping off stacks of votes into various drop boxes “provided evidence of ballot harvesting, in violation of state law.” Geter-Pataky made 10 drops either directly or indirectly, and Martinez made 5 separate drops of multiple ballots. The court also found “the volume of ballots mishandled is such it calls the result of the primary election in serious doubt and unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary.”
Source: herit.ag/3TBYUNy
Victor Cuevas, a former Democrat Connecticut State Representative, was charged by the federal government with one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after submitting fraudulent signatures on a candidate ballot petition. Cuevas, who was on federal probation for bank fraud, ran a political consulting business called Yellow Dog Strategies. He was hired by a Democrat candidate to gather 1,000 ballot petition signatures to be eligible to run in the 2017 New Haven Probate Judge primary election. Cuevas and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained ballot petition signatures by forging signatures of registered voters as well as forging the name and signature of a petition circulator to falsely authenticate voter signatures. When Cuevas and his co-conspirators were under investigation by the state election board for their forgery, Cuevas pressured the person whose signature he falsified as a circulator to sign a false affidavit. He pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was sentenced to 8 months in prison, 3 years of supervised probation, and ordered to pay $5,750 in restitution as well as a $100 special assessment.
Source: herit.ag/4falG7e , herit.ag/3y2wtQk , herit.ag/3Yevg2S , herit.ag/4676Fis
John Mallozzi, former Chair of the Stamford Democratic City Committee, was convicted following a bench trial of 14 counts of second-degree forgery and 14 counts of making false statements in absentee balloting. Mallozzi signed and submitted absentee ballots for individuals he did not know in connection with 2015 elections for spots on the Board of Finance, Board of Education, and Board of Representatives. The conduct involved 31 fraudulent applications and 26 fraudulent ballots. He is awaiting sentencing.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rwegE4v
Troy Stevenson was convicted of making a false statement on an absentee ballot as well as second degree forgery, both class D felonies. He committed this crime on October 28, 2017, in connection with the November 2017 mayoral election in Stafford. Stevenson was given a three year suspended sentence.
Source: https://herit.ag/3tVrnid, https://herit.ag/39jnZEs
Betty Chappell was convicted of making a false statement on an absentee ballot as well as second degree forgery, both class D felonies. She committed this crime on October 28, 2017, in connection with the November 2017 mayoral election in Stafford. Chappell received a five year suspended sentence.
Source: https://herit.ag/3lHsMFx, https://herit.ag/39oGPtM
Former state representative Christina Ayala pleaded guilty to two counts of providing a false statement and was sentenced to a suspended one-year prison term followed by two years of conditional discharge. Ayala had voted in a series of elections, including the 2012 presidential election, in districts in which she did not live. When confronted about residency discrepancies by state investigators, Ayala fabricated evidence to corroborate her false residency claims. Before agreeing to a plea deal, she faced eight counts of fraudulent voting, 10 counts of primary or enrollment violations, and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. As a condition of her plea deal, she is barred from seeking elected office for two years.
Source: https://herit.ag/3lKrn0Q
The State Elections Enforcement Commission ruled that State Rep. Minnie Gonzalez was "knowingly present" while four voters fraudulently filled out absentee ballots at City Hall during the 2006 election. She was fined $4,500 by the Commission. Gonzalez appealed the fine but lost in the state Superior Court.
Source: https://herit.ag/3zrLndF
City Councilwoman Lydia Martinez admitted to illegally assisting in the filling out of absentee ballots, as well as encouraging those not eligible to vote absentee to do so. Martinez targeted residents of an assisted living home, Harborview Towers. She was ordered by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission to pay a $500 fine. This was not the first time she was fined by the Commission: In 2008, she was found liable to pay $664 to the Citizens Election Fund for the excess expenditures her campaign committee made for her failed run for the State House.
Source: https://herit.ag/3y9yqW0, https://herit.ag/3rCNqci
Carlos Lopez and his wife, Luz Lopez, registered to vote and voted on three separate occasions (2004, 2006, and 2007) in Hartford, where they own a furniture store, while actually living in Farmington. Lopez and his wife were ordered to pay a civil penalty to the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission in the amount of $2,000.
Source: https://herit.ag/3eZ7WPy
Luz Lopez and her husband, Carlos Lopez, registered to vote and voted on three separate occasions (2004, 2006, and 2007) in Hartford, where they own a furniture store, while actually living in Farmington. Lopez and her husband were ordered to pay a civil penalty to the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission in the amount of $2,000.
Source: https://herit.ag/3zImWce
In 2009, Lillian Cummings Stevenson agreed to a consent order after the State Elections Enforcement Commission found her guilty of illegally signing and submitting two absentee ballot request forms on behalf of her sons, who were living in Europe. She was given a $200 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/2ULKMFt
Prenzina Holloway, of Hartford, Connecticut, voted using another voter's absentee ballot in the 2004 Democratic primary. She was ordered to pay a civil penalty to the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission in the amount of $10,000, but she was only required to pay $2,000 because of financial hardship. Ironically, she was later hired by the Hartford Democratic registrar of voters to work in connection with a 2009 municipal election.
Source: https://herit.ag/3iWBDlc, bit.ly/2uw0EtM
Eva Corrigan admitted to failing to co-sign the absentee ballots of those she assisted. She was ordered by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission to pay a $100 civil penalty.
Source: bit.ly/2u4xi8p
Former state representative Barnaby Horton was charged with absentee ballot fraud after he was caught inducing elderly residents to cast absentee ballots for him. After a lengthy court battle, he pleaded guilty to felony charges of ballot fraud and agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, one of the largest fines ever imposed by the State Elections Enforcement Commission. A Superior Court judge sentenced Horton to two years' probation and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rDnk9g
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
Dolores Scalesse admitted to violating Connecticut law by falsely claiming she was a witness to all the signatures on a state petition. She entered into a consent agreement with the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission and was ordered to pay a $250 civil penalty.
Source: bit.ly/2u4xi8p
Michael Singh, of Stratford, CT, registered to vote, voted, and eventually was elected to the town council despite the fact that he is not a U.S. citizen. An immigrant from Jamaica, he registered to vote in 1999, ran unsuccessfully for state senate in 2000, and won a seat on the Stratford town council in 2001, where he became majority leader. The Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission later found that he was not a U.S. citizen and required that he pay $4,000 in fines and resign from his position.
Source: https://herit.ag/372VR7l, https://herit.ag/3kpx1Gj
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
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
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, 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
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
Carlos Reiniso admitted to voting in the 2000 election, when he was ineligible to do so. After an investigation by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission, he agreed to pay $250 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3AuKhzc
Liz Diaz, a former 4th District town committee member in Hartford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit election fraud and to witness tampering after she registered ineligible voters to receive absentee ballots and intimidated a witness to lie about her reason for requesting an absentee ballot in a court hearing regarding the 1996 Democratic town committee election. She was sentenced to two months in jail.
Source: https://herit.ag/2VheVvT, https://herit.ag/2Zf8agl, https://herit.ag/3hQnAhw
Virgen Figueroa, a former town committee member from Hartford, pleaded guilty to absentee ballot fraud and forgery. In a plot with several other individuals to elect Democrat candidates for town committee in the 1996 election, Figueroa registered ineligible voters to receive absentee ballots and helped them to mark their ballots. She was sentenced to two months in jail.
Source: https://herit.ag/3AxQYR6, https://herit.ag/2UMDX6A
Edwin E. Garcia, a former lawmaker and Hartford Police Sergeant, pleaded no contest to three felony counts of absentee ballot fraud, tampering with a witness, and accepting an illegal campaign contribution. Garcia and his campaign workers systematically registered hundreds of young voters and furnished many with absentee ballots that they neither qualified for nor understood. He received a sentence of one year of house arrest.
Source: https://herit.ag/3iMzg4w
Jacqueline Rogers was a campaign worker for James Holloway, a candidate for City Council. In the 1993 primary, she was paid $150 to dress up in a nurse's uniform with a certified nurse nametag and solicit "emergency" absentee ballots from patients. She instructed at least one voter to cast her ballot for Holloway. The primary was ultimately decided in Holloway's favor by just nine votes. The Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission barred her from participating in political campaigns for five years.
Source: https://herit.ag/3u2U6Sn
Curtis Mouning, a campaign volunteer for State Representative Mario Testa during the 1990 election, admitted to signing the names of five of his friends and family members to request absentee ballots to vote in the primary. He was ordered to pay a civil penalty to the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission in the amount of $500.
Source: https://herit.ag/3nUl6lZ
Ernest Newton, a former state senator, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,000 for assisting in filling out someone else's absentee ballot. Newton illegally filled out and mailed an absentee ballot for Ada Crosby. The fraud occurred in the 1988 primary while Newton was a state senate candidate in the 124th District. Following his election, he was imprisoned after accepting a bribe, using campaign contributions for personal expenses, and failing to report improper income on his federal tax return. In 2015, Newton was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for campaign finance violations stemming from having three campaign workers fraudulently sign donation cards in order for the campaign to reach the threshold to qualify for state matching funds.
Source: https://herit.ag/3i9o8iQ, https://herit.ag/3Aqhsni