The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

Four plead no contest in voter fraud case

by •

LOS ANGELES – Four people indicted last year in connection with a scheme in which homeless people on Skid Row were allegedly offered money and cigarettes in exchange for false and forged signatures on ballot petitions and voter registration forms have pleaded no contest, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. A no contest plea has the same legal effect as a guilty plea.

Richard Howard, 64, and Louis Thomas Wise, 37, pleaded no contest Friday, July 24, to one felony count each of subscribing a fictitious name or the name of another to an initiative petition and registration of a fictitious person, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Howard was immediately sentenced to three years of probation and a suspended three-year state prison sentence that may be imposed if he violates his probation, while Wise was sentenced to three years probation and a suspended 16-month state prison sentence.

Christopher Joseph Williams, 41, and Nickey Demelvin Huntley, 45, each pleaded no contest to one felony count of circulating an initiative or petition containing false, forged or fictitious names, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

A fifth defendant, Norman Hall, 62, pleaded guilty Feb. 19 to one felony count of circulating a petition with false, forged or fictitious names and was sentenced to one year in county jail, 100 hours of community service and three years probation.

The five were indicted in June 2019 along with three other people who are still awaiting trial. Jakari Fati Mardis, 37, who was also indicted, is still being sought, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The defendants allegedly engaged in the solicitation of hundreds of false and/or forged signatures on state ballot petitions and voter registration forms by offering homeless people $1 and/or cigarettes for their participation during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, prosecutors said.

–

17 comments for "Four plead no contest in voter fraud case"

  1. Since i can’t find Democrat or Republican in the story, i can assume it was a republican scam? Since they’re the one’s that have committed virtually every voter fraud case I’ve heard of, right? Every time, its funny. Lets have a Democrat claw back, maybe with some of their own cheating this time! Ha. Cheaters. You know they cheat cause they can’t win, right? Can’t get the good grades, can’t get in the good schools…can’t keep it in his pants.

      • GOOD for you, Tony Banke. I’m currently doing research on this very subject, starting with a list composed by and straight from a highly respectable republican source. Thus far, every person on their list was a republican. This is the only one where I cannot find to which party he is registered. I found one source that said he voted once for a dem and once for a republican – to keep them guessing, I guess. The important thing is he was caught.

  2. Attention all Democrats, you must speak out against this Republican scheme to defraud the citizenry! March, unite, give voice and expose the corruption!…..What, what’s that you say? It’s not Republicans? Well then,…never mind.

    • Average intelligence of today’s radical right wing. Turning Point U.S.A. holds an indoor rally with no mask or social distancing. Their co-founder, Bill Montgomery, gets TRUMP Virus, aka, COVID-19 and dies.

      • Average intelligence of a Democrat mayor: At the beach you can go on the wet sand but not the dry sand (Eric Garcetti-LA). Chaz is the “Summer of Love” (Seattle). It’s peaceful protesting (New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Minneapolis, Portland, etc.). Average intelligence of a Democrat governor: Appetizers can’t be a meal; no singing in church [even outdoors] (Newsome- CA). HCQ is banned [while I horde it] (Nevada). You can use a rowboat but not a motorboat [except for me], you can’t buy seeds or garden (Whitmer-MI). But after all the reporting of who’s dying in Italy and why (age plus co-morbidities), northeastern Democrat governors put Wuhan virus positive people into nursing homes, yes 24/7 nursing homes for the elderly against, yes people against, CDC guidelines. Ah, the genius of Democrat “leaders”. Maybe Pelosi will give you some ice cream while you choose your pronouns.

      • Cherry picking stats(typical dim) now post the statistics from the protesters,rioters and various other myths and how many of those einsteins fell ill .Cue the cricets.

  4. Skid Row is smart thinking liberals! Because now that you’ve cheated there, you’ve finally cheated everywhere.

  5. Trump has asked Russia AND China to help him in 2020 because he can’t win on his own.