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Prosecution to recommend probation
A second man pleaded guilty Monday to absentee ballot fraud in connection with the unsuccessful 2009 mayoral campaign of Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small. The man also pleaded guilty to committing absentee ballot fraud while working for the 2008 campaign of then-incumbent Mayor Scott Evans.
Last year, another associate of the Small campaign pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit absentee ballot fraud.
Ernest Storr, 44, of Linwood, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of third-degree absentee ballot fraud before state Superior Court Judge James E. Isman in Mays Landing.
Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Storr be sentenced to a term of probation.
Storr was charged in a 10-count state grand jury indictment returned on Sept. 3, which also charged Councilman Small and 12 other campaign workers and operatives. The indictment resulted from an investigation led by the state Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and the State Police Official Corruption Bureau South Unit.Storr pleaded guilty to one count of that indictment, as well as a single-count accusation charging him with absentee ballot fraud during the 2008 special mayoral election campaign of Evans in Atlantic City.
In pleading guilty to the charge in the indictment, Storr admitted that, in 2009, he instructed a man associated with the Small campaign regarding how to commit absentee ballot fraud by obtaining voters' signatures on ballot forms, voting the ballots himself, and sending them to the Board of Elections. In pleading guilty to the accusation, Storr admitted that, in 2008, while working for the Evans campaign, he tampered with absentee ballots by either voting the ballots himself or telling voters how to vote them, then sending the ballots to the Board of Elections.
On Oct. 13, Ronald Harris, 24, of Atlantic City, pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree conspiracy to commit absentee ballot fraud before Superior Court Judge Robert Neustadter. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 5. The state will recommend that Harris serve a year in the Atlantic County Jail. He may face a fine of up to $15,000.
The charges are pending against the other defendants named in the Sept. 3 indictment.
Small and the other remaining defendants are each charged with conspiracy, four counts of election fraud, absentee ballot fraud, tampering with public records, falsifying records and forgery. Three defendants are also charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Small and the indicted members of his campaign staff allegedly sought to maximize the number of absentee ballots messengered by the campaign by enlisting operatives and campaign workers to engage in fraud and by paying campaign workers based on how many messenger ballots they collected. The workers allegedly were told to direct voters to vote for the Small ticket, or simply have the voters sign the ballots so the workers could fill them out as votes for the Small ticket.
Deputy Attorneys General Anthony Picione and Robert Czepiel Jr. are handling the prosecution. The investigation was led for the State Police Official Corruption Bureau by Lt. John Redkoles, Det. Sgt. 1st Class Karl E. Ulbrich, Det. Sgt. David A. Smith, Det. Sgt. John Pizzuro, and Detectives Scott Orman, Anthony Carugno, James Sansone, David Caracciolo and John Scalabrini.
– TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
