Skid Row scheme: Feds say man paid homeless people to sign California ballot petitions
Man arrested in Skid Row election fraud scheme
A man was arrested in connection to an alleged election fraud scheme.
LOS ANGELES - A Victorville man was arrested for allegedly paying people on Skid Row to sign petitions using stolen identities of registered voters to qualify initiatives on ballots in California elections.
James Brass, 47, was released on a $10,000 bond following his initial court appearance in Riverside and pleaded not guilty to all charges. Two co-defendants have also been charged in the alleged scheme, which federal officials say targeted vulnerable populations to bypass California’s signature qualification rules.
What we know:
A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging James Brass, also known as "Lord," along with two signature collectors who worked for him: Courtney Price, 49, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jateisha Herron, 33, of Boron, California. All three face one count of conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony, while Brass and Price face an additional count of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.
According to court documents, Brass managed a team of signature collectors and collected signatures himself. From February until last month, prosecutors allege, the defendants used a database to identify registered California voters. On Skid Row, Brass and Price handed out those voters' stolen identities and paid petition signers to copy the voters' personal information onto ballot initiative petitions and fraudulently sign the petitions in those voters' names, prosecutors allege.
The U.S. Attorney's Office contends that after the petitions were signed, Brass and Herron signed declarations at the bottom of the petitions, falsely declaring under penalty of perjury that they personally witnessed the named registered voters sign the petitions and that each signature was, to the best of their knowledge, "the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be."
Brass and Herron are suspected of having turned in the bogus petitions to several petition coordinators, knowing the false representations regarding the signatures' authenticity would result in false and fraudulent signatures being counted in connection with the effort to place the initiative at issue on the ballot, court papers show.
In total, Brass received about $41,600 from coordinators working with a petition management company, federal prosecutors allege.
Brass pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon to both charges at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Riverside. He was released on $10,000 bond.
What they're saying:
"These defendants are charged with using stolen identities of registered voters to manufacture signatures on ballot petitions used to shape California law," said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. "They allegedly used people, including members of Skid Row’s vulnerable homeless population, to try to cover up their tracks. The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems, and we will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved."
What's next:
If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in federal prison for each count, officials said.
He is due back in court on Nov. 2.
The Source: Information for this story came from the Department of Justice.