A top Democrat and former congressman in Pennsylvania, Ozzie Myers pled guilty to ballot stuffing in several elections in Philadelphia.
On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that the 79-year old has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, obstruction of justice, deprive voters of civil rights, falsification of voting records, and conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election.
According to the court records, Myers was accused of collaborating with crooked election judges in South Philadelphia, Domenick J. Demuro and Marie Beren, who also have pleaded guilty for their roles in Myers’ schemes, stuffing for Democratic candidates in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Pennsylvania elections.
Reportedly, Myers paid Demuro up to $5,000 every election for the purpose of “ringing up” fake votes on voting machines, and then “certifying the results as legitimate, in a scheme that lasted years.”
“Votes are not things to be purchased and democracy is not for sale,” U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams stated in a news release.
The DOJ also said that Myers was being paid by judicial candidates to pass some of the proceeds along to Demuro and carry out fraud.
On Friday, a sentencing memo was released where federal prosecutors said his “criminal efforts were generally, although not exclusively, directed at securing election victories for local judicial candidates running for Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas or Municipal Court who had employed Myers as a ‘political consultant.’
The Prosecutors also revealed that Myers has admitted that he bribed a judge of elections to add votes for his chosen candidates, including clients who were running for judicial offices.
Reports revealed that the bribes were hundreds or thousands of dollars.
In 1980, Myers was expelled from Congress after he was caught taking bribes amid the Abscam sting investigation.
He was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam sting for taking money from FBI agents who pretended to be Arab sheiks. He served more than a year in prison.
Myers also served six years in the Pennsylvania House before his 1976 election to Congress.
