Six people in Ohio indicted for illegal voting

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s Attorney General, Dave Yost, announced that grand juries have indicted six people on charges of illegal voting, a fourth-degree felony, in previous elections.

Yost called the right to vote sacred.

“If you’re not a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal to vote – whether you thought you were allowed to or not – you will be held accountable,” he said in a press release.

The grand juries indicted the following people for allegedly voting without having U.S. citizenship, according to the release:

• Ramesh Patel, 68, of North Royalton
• Lorinda Miller, 78, of Hudson
• Nicholas Fontaine, 32, of Kent
• Ahmed Aden, 35, of Columbus
• Van Thuy Cooper, 53, of Hilliard
• Maria Dearaujo, 62, of Columbus

While the release states that many of these individuals were legal residents, it alleges they did not have U.S. citizenship when they voted.

A Lorain County grand jury declined to charge a seventh person, an Oberlin College student.

The release states that the cases were investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and that their investigations into voter fraud continue.

“Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said in the release. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”