Charges announced for three behind massive signature scandal in Michigan governor's race
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Problems plagued the signature-gathering portion of the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial race, with widespread fraud discovered during the petition process.
On Thursday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced new charges against the three people behind the scheme.
"These bad actors must be held accountable, and the criminal penalties should be significant," said Nessel.
Shawn Wilmoth and Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin were arrested Wednesday. The married couple were arraigned on Thursday. The third conspirator, Willie Reed, has been charged, but officials believe he is outside the state.
"The U.S. Marshals are out there looking for him. We strongly suggest to Mr. Reed that he turn himself in as quickly as possible. And I will say this it will likely affect the conditions of his bond if he does not turn himself in."
The Wilmoths and Reed were behind collecting hundreds of thousands of fraudulent petition signatures in the lead-up to the 2022 race for governor. Their scheme led to eight candidates across multiple races being found ineligible.
"It feels wonderful to hear them say that we had no fault in this and we were victims of somebody that was really pretty good at high criminality," said Donna Brandenburg, who was disqualified from the primary race after submitting fraudulent signatures collected in the scheme.
The three charged the campaigns more than $700,000 for signature collection, knowing fully that thousands of those signatures were forgeries.
"They will each face eight counts of false pretenses, eight counts of use of a computer to commit a crime, eight counts of election law fraud, and one count of conducting a criminal enterprise," Nessel said.
Additionally, Shawn Wilmoth will be charged as a habitual offender-- he conducted a similar scheme in Virginia in 2011 and was involved in signature-gathering in Florida in 2021.
"I think that just Googling some of these individuals, you would have seen things pop up from other states," Nessel said. "So in some of these instances, I think it would have been quite easy to ascertain that this was probably not a good choice for somebody who was charged with this incredibly important responsibility."
In response to the problems that plagued last year's election, State Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, who chairs the Michigan House Elections Committee, says she has plans to review Michigan election law.
"I would like to ensure that our candidates have the opportunities that they need to get those signatures and also ensure that the process is such that we can eliminate as much fraud as possible," she said.
Nessel says that along with these charges, there will be an attempt to get these defrauded candidates some restitution.