Man charged with paying LA skid row denizens to sign ballot measure petitions

Federal prosecutors charged James Brass, 47, of Victorville with identity fraud and conspiracy after allegedly paying people on LA's Skid Row to sign ballot petitions using stolen identities of registered voters. Two others, Courtney Price and Jateisha Herron, were also charged with collecting the fraudulent signatures on his behalf.

The indictment says the trio compiled names from public voter rolls, set up on Skid Row, and paid vulnerable homeless residents to copy those names and forge signatures onto initiative petitions. Brass allegedly received about $41,600 for the operation and instructed Herron by text to tell petition coordinators the signatures came from Torrance or Inglewood, adding “NEVER EVER SAY DOWN TOWN LA.”

California requires more than half a million valid signatures within a 180-day window to qualify a ballot initiative, and petition companies typically pay $5 to $10 per valid name, creating pressure that prosecutors say led to the scheme. The case echoes a May indictment of Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, who pleaded guilty to paying Skid Row residents for signatures and voter registrations.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.