Election Fraud Cases

Chester Jones and Sherman Neace

Chester Jones and Sherman Neace pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a vote-buying scheme masterminded by the two men during the 2008 election. Jones was running for the Perry County School Board and also served as chairman of the county Democrat Party executive committee. Neace, a former county judge-executive, was running for magistrate. The pair accepted $7,500 from the Kentucky Democrat Party to fund get-out-the-vote efforts, but instead used the money to buy the votes of 75 Perry County voters for $100 apiece. Both men pleaded guilty to mail-fraud charges for mailing false campaign-spending documents to state agencies to cover up their illegal activity. Jones was sentenced to one year in prison, and Neace was sentenced to three years of probation, serving the first six months in home confinement.

Source: https://herit.ag/3iM4vMU, bit.ly/2fiEzWY, bit.ly/2eoz1Ne

R. Cletus Maricle, Douglas Adams, Freddy Thompson, Stanley Bowling, Charles Jones, William Stivers, William Morris, and Debra Morris

Eight defendants (including a former circuit judge, a former school superintendent, a county clerk, a magistrate, and a former Democratic election commissioner) were convicted of vote-buying, mail fraud, extortion, and money laundering for checking lists of voters to identify those who would take bribes and for organizing people to drive them to the polls, where complicit precinct workers made sure they voted correctly and gave them a ticket to redeem for payment. After a lengthy appeals process, and after all 8 had served 40 months in prison, their sentences were reduced to: William Morris - five years, six months; Debra Morris - three years, four months; Stanley Bowling - five years, six months; Maricle, Stivers, Adams - 100 days' home incarceration, two years' supervised release; Freddy Thompson - two years' supervised release. Charles Jones has not yet been sentenced.

Source: bit.ly/2fdA29C, bit.ly/2eezHBr, https://herit.ag/3zHOMpi

Hugh Melvin Perkins

Hugh Melvin Perkins pleaded guilty to illegally voting in the 2010 election. Perkins, a convicted felon, was given four years of pre-trial diversion. A wrongful registration is a class D felony in Kentucky.

Source: https://herit.ag/375VR6x

Derek Abbott

Derek Abbott pleaded guilty to duplicate voting in multiple elections. Abbott had voted in multiple state and federal elections in each of two counties. He was permitted to withdraw his plea and the case was ultimately dismissed after Abbott successfully completed the requirements of a deferred disposition agreement.

Source: https://herit.ag/3iTTycn, https://herit.ag/3BKpyYZ

Delmer Terrill

Delmer Terrill pleaded guilty to a charge of making a false statement or oath, admitting to voting twice (in Dixmont and Newburgh, Maine) in the 2009 election. He received a 12-day jail sentence.

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

Sarah Lynn Hankins

Sarah Hankins pleaded guilty to knowingly voting while ineligible in the 2008 election. She was sentenced to a year in prison (of which 11 months and 30 days were stayed for two years), two years of probation, and a $100 fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x7rxmS , https://herit.ag/2ULPm6F

Shawn Scott Deatley

Shawn Deatley was convicted of burglary in 2005 and received probation. As a convicted felon, Deatley was ineligible to vote until the completion of probation. Despite this fact, Deatley took advantage of same-day registration to cast a ballot in the 2008 presidential election. Had Deatley registered in advance it is likely his illegal attempt to vote would have been blocked, since election officials are provided with lists of ineligible felons against which registrants can be checked.

Source: https://herit.ag/3i5A6tR , https://herit.ag/3iMzkkM

John and Clara Moretina

In order to assist their nephew in his razor-close 2010 democratic primary for the 40th District in Missouri, Clara and John Moretina falsely registered a Kansas City address so they could vote for their nephew, John Joseph Rizzo. Rizzo won that primary election by a single vote. That means two fraudulent votes could have provided his winning margin. John Moretina pleaded guilty to a federal charge of voter fraud in connection with the 2010 election. He was sentenced to five years' probation. Clara Moretina was not charged in the federal case, but was convicted by the state of Missouri, and both she and her husband were fined $250 and barred from ever voting again in Missouri.

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

Tarrell Campbell

Tarrell Campbell pleaded guilty to a federal felony voter fraud charge. He voted early in Illinois, where he was attending Southern Illinois University, and then again on election day in Missouri. He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $350 in fines and fees. He was also ordered to undergo drug testing and counseling.

Source: https://herit.ag/3i7eqO3

Kenny Ray Bowen and Billy Street

Kenny Ray Bowen and Billy Street both pleaded guilty to two counts of voter fraud in connection with their involvement in a vote-buying scheme surrounding the 2007 Benton County election. They were the last of 16 individuals who either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of voter fraud in an elaborate electioneering operation. Both men were sentenced to five years, with four-and-a-half years suspended, six months to serve under house arrest, and four-and-a-half years under post-release supervision. Bowen and Street were also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine to the Crime Victim's Compensation Fund.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l3BSxt, https://herit.ag/3xbrEh0

Jasper Buggs, Sr., James Bullock, and Ronnie Wilkerson

Jasper Buggs, Sr., James Bullock, and Ronnie Wilkerson pleaded guilty to voter fraud charges in connection with their involvement in a vote-buying scheme surrounding the 2007 Benton County election. Buggs pleaded guilty to two counts of voter fraud, Bullock pleaded guilty to five counts of voter fraud, and Wilkerson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud. All three men were sentenced to five years, with four years suspended and one year to serve under house arrest on each count, all the counts to run concurrently. They were also sentenced to four years of post-release supervision and were ordered to pay a $1,000 fine to the Crime Victim's Compensation Fund.

Source: https://herit.ag/3zMygV3 , https://herit.ag/2VbUjFu

Jerry Huck Childers, Cooper Epps, David Massey, Arnold Rooker, Sr., and Stanley Maurice Warren

Jerry Huck Childers, Cooper Epps, David Massey, Arnold Rooker, Sr., and Stanley Maurice Warren all pleaded guilty to voter fraud charges in connection with their involvement in a vote-buying scheme surrounding the 2007 Benton County election. They were part of ring of 16 individuals who either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of voter fraud in an elaborate electioneering operation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rBsVgh , https://herit.ag/2TBA9US , https://herit.ag/3f22pr8

Tate King, Henry Massey, and Lillie Jean Norton

Benton County supervisor Tate King was convicted of committing voter fraud after he paid people to vote for him in the 2007 primary and runoff elections. Eleven others who were also under investigation in connection with this matter have also either pleaded guilty or been convicted. He was sentenced to one year in prison, two years on house arrest, and two years of supervised release, in addition to a $5,000 fine. Norton received three years' supervised probation, and Massey received one year of house arrest and two years of supervised release.

Source: https://herit.ag/3yarVSD, https://herit.ag/3rEwDWv , https://herit.ag/372H5gX

Larry "Tip" Massey

Larry "Tip" Massey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit voter fraud in connection with his involvement in a 2007 Benton County election vote-buying scheme. He was sentenced to five years in prison, although three of those years were suspended. He will serve two years in prison and another two under supervised probation.

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

Christopher Luke Fithian

Christopher Luke Fithian of Jackson, New Hampshire pleaded guilty to a charge of duplicate voting for voting twice in the 2008 Presidential election and for applying for a ballot after he had already voted. He received a suspended 12 month prison sentence and was ordered to serve 200 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3zG3a11, https://herit.ag/3kYe9Pr, https://herit.ag/3x8BK2b