A decision on whether to move forward with the Lucas County Republican Party signature fraud case will take place in the next 30 days, according to James Gutierrez, a Cuyahoga County prosecutor.

The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office is investigating the alleged signature fraud case involving campaign finance forms filed during Jon Stainbrook’s chairmanship. The case was sent to Cleveland on Oct. 26 after Lucas County Chief Investigator Frank Stiles concluded his investigation. A decision to turn his investigation to date over to a special prosecutor was made by the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest. The allegations from the board of elections involving the Republican Party could cause conflict of interest since the board of elections is a client of the prosecutor’s office.

Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller sent a letter to the Lucas County Board of Elections and Ohio Secretary of State on July 30, alerting them to potential inconsistencies among signatures on Lucas County GOP campaign finance reports and other official documents. The apparent inconsistencies came to light as the result of research conducted by Lisa Renee Ward, operator of Glass City Jungle.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, section 3517.10, “The statement of contributions and expenditures shall be signed by the person completing the form.” Under Ohio law, according to the office of the Ohio Secretary of State, “A fifth-degree felony conviction [of election falsification] may result in a prison sentence of six to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.

At least one witness to an act of forgery has reportedly testified to prosecutors.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Community, Politics.
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