Election Fraud Cases

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

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

Cynthia McCloud

Cynthia McCloud pleaded guilty to two charges of inducing illegal voting and false registration (in an effort to help her friend Jon Saylor become a Fairfield city councilman), and was sentenced to five years of probation, ordered to complete 80 hours of community service, and pay a $2,500 fine.

Source: bit.ly/2xj2BxC, bit.ly/2f8w7uc

Jon Saylor

Jon Saylor ordered absentee ballots sent to the home of a friend, and then filled them out as votes for himself. After winning the seat of the 1st Ward councilman in Fairfield, Ohio, the election results were called into question and an investigation was opened. Saylor was convicted of 29 counts of false registrations, one count of inducing illegal voting, 12 counts of absentee voter's ballot violation, 14 counts of illegal voting, one count of election falsification, and one count of interference with the conduct of an election. He was sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment.

Source: bit.ly/2f8w7uc, https://herit.ag/3iWalvd

Terri Louise Kobialka

Terri Kobialka was a University of Oregon student during the 2000 election when she filled out a ballot mailed to her apartment in the name of a former tenant. Kobialka pleaded guilty to falsely signing a ballot, a Class C felony. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation, ordered to complete 120 hours of community service, and fined $500.

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

Carolyn Paseneaux

Paseneaux, a sitting state representative, was arrested on felony voter fraud charges. She used a false address to vote after selling her home in 1997. She pleaded guilty and received a sentence of probation and was ordered to pay a $1,030 fine.

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

Jose De Goti Sr.

Jose De Goti Sr. pleaded guilty to four counts of felony voter fraud for falsely registering a Miami police officer and his wife so they could cast fraudulent ballots in the 1997 Miami mayoral election. He was sentenced to six months in jail, six months of house arrest, and one year of probation, in addition to a $10,000 fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x8BBf9

John O'Hara

John O'Hara deliberately registered to vote using his girlfriend's address so that he could continue to vote and run for office in his old district. District lines were changed in 1992 during redistricting, prompting O'Hara to use the address, despite it not being his permanent residence. He was sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service and fined $20,000.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BQhS7Q

Austin Murphy

Former Congressman Austin Murphy was convicted on one charge of absentee ballot fraud. Murphy forged ballots for senior citizens living in a nursing home, claiming merely to be assisting them in exercising their voting rights. He was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BOrBLR, https://herit.ag/3iSGMLl, https://herit.ag/3i71Y0V

Humberto Hernandez

Humberto Hernandez was convicted of being an accessory to covering up fraud and removed from office after it was discovered that hundreds of fraudulent absentee ballots were cast in his favor. He was sentenced to a one-year prison term.

Source: https://herit.ag/2UXZNno, https://herit.ag/3BLKu1R

Gillian Yingling

Gillian Yingling and 18 others, of Rio Arriba County, including several local officials, were arrested on election-fraud charges, including ineligible absentee voting and false statements on absentee ballots. Yingling pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor voter fraud charge, receiving 364 days' supervised probation.

Source: bit.ly/2fL3qH7

James Vadella

James Vadella, brother of former Carbondale Mayor Joseph Vadella, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, as well as charges of forgery, conspiracy to tamper with public records, tampering with public records, and violations of the election code. Vadella conspired with his brother, Michael, to alter election results in a primary election in which he was a candidate by obtaining and falsely filling out absentee ballots. Vadella was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, followed by home confinement and probation.

Source: bit.ly/2udYp18, https://herit.ag/2VgRdjG

Joseph Vadella

Former Carbondale Mayor Joseph Vadella pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit voter fraud and election code violations related to a Pennsylvania district justice race. He was sentenced to serve between three and nine months in jail, to run concurrently with a four-month prison sentence for a related conviction in federal court of preventing a witness from testifying. Following his release, Vadella was subject to home confinement and probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BQhZAi, https://herit.ag/3iV3iD3