LOS ANGELES—On Wednesday, July 29, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced that four more people were involved in a voter fraud scheme occurring during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles.
The District Attorney’s Office revealed that four men admitted to a scheme where cigarettes and money were used to offer homeless individuals on Skid Row for false and forged signatures on ballot petitions and voter registration forms.
Richard Howard, 64, and Thomas Wise, 37, were both charged with felonies of subscribing a false name to a petition and registration of a fictitious person. They plead no contest, conceding to the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment without admitting guilt and without presenting a defense.
Howard was immediately sentenced to a suspended sentence of three years and three years of formal probation. Wise was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 16 months and three years of formal probation.
On July 24, Christopher Joseph Williams, 41, and Nickey Demelvin Huntley, 45, pleaded no contest to one felony count of circulating an initiative containing false, forged, or fictitious names.
Codefendant Normal Hall, 62, faced a similar charge in February and was immediately sentenced to one year in county jail after pleading guilty. He was placed on formal probation for three years and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. One of the suspect in the case, Jakara Fati Mardis, 37, is still on the run.
Three of the remaining defendants will return to court for a pretrial hearing on September 1.
