Overview
- James Brass was arrested in Victorville on Thursday after a federal grand jury returned an indictment that charges him with paying people on Skid Row to sign ballot petitions using stolen registered-voter identities.
- The indictment names two co-defendants, Courtney Price and Jateisha Herron, and charges all three with conspiracy to commit identity fraud while Brass and Price face an extra identity-fraud count.
- Prosecutors say the defendants used a voter database from February through August to hand out stolen voter identities, paid homeless people to copy personal data and sign petitions in those names, and then Brass and Herron signed false witness declarations.
- Authorities allege Brass received roughly $41,600 from petition coordinators tied to a petition management company, and he pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Riverside before being released on bond.
- Investigators have not disclosed how many forged signatures were submitted or which initiatives were affected, and the case underscores how high signature requirements push campaigns to rely on outside managers and create risks of fraud.