3 accused of paying for fake petition signatures on Skid Row in DTLA

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - A 47-year-old man arrested today was among three defendants facing federal charges for allegedly paying people on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles to sign petitions using stolen identities of registered voters to qualify initiatives on ballots in California elections.

James Brass of Victorville was charged in Los Angeles federal court along with two petition circulators who allegedly worked for him: Courtney Price, 49, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jateisha Herron, 33, of Boron, in Kern County, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

All three are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony. Brass and Price are charged with an additional count of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.   

According to the indictment returned Wednesday, 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 to 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. U.S. Magistrate Judge Angela Viramontes ordered him released on $10,000 bond.  

His trial is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 2 in L.A. federal court.   

If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in federal prison for each count, officials said.   

"These defendants are charged with using stolen identities of registered voters to manufacture signatures on ballot petitions used to shape California law,'' First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.

"They allegedly used people, including members of Skid Row's vulnerable homeless population, to try to cover up their tracks,'' he continued. "The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems, and we will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved.''  

Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles bureau, said the alleged scheme "sought to undermine an essential pillar of our democracy and cause an undue burden on taxpayers. We will remain vigilant in detecting those trying to weaken our political process and we will aggressively investigate any allegations of voter fraud or other election crimes.''