Election fraud is usually argued about in sweeping terms. Federal criminal cases are considerably more specific.
The Justice Department announced cases Monday involving 12 people across seven federal districts, including allegations of noncitizen voting, false claims of U.S. citizenship, fraudulent voter registration and interference with mail containing election ballots.
Three of the 12 people are described by DOJ as illegal aliens. Several others are lawful permanent residents, while two defendants have already pleaded guilty.
The September 28 Justice Department announcement collects cases from Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Hawaii and Utah.
Four Presidential Elections
Patrick Terrance Reid, a 61-year-old Jamaican national and lawful permanent resident in New Jersey, allegedly voted in four presidential elections over a 12-year span.
Federal prosecutors say Reid voted in person in 2012 and 2016, then used mail-in ballots in 2020 and 2024. He was charged with illegally voting in a federal election and making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
Another New Jersey defendant, 49-year-old Venezuelan national Danubis Bernat, is also a lawful permanent resident. Prosecutors say Bernat voted in person during the 2024 general election and later made false statements while applying for citizenship.
In Florida, Haitian national Valery Zidor pleaded guilty to two counts of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to vote and one count of voting by an alien.
Zidor had Temporary Protected Status when he voted, DOJ said, and falsely claimed citizenship while registering before casting a ballot in the 2024 general election.
Canadian national Christiane Vinette Young, 75, was charged in Florida’s Middle District with three counts of voting by an alien. Prosecutors say Young voted in the 2022 primary, the 2022 general election, and the 2024 general election despite knowing she was not a U.S. citizen.
DOJ describes Young as an illegal alien.
Registered in 2010, Voted in 2024
George Olawunmi Johnson, a Nigerian national and lawful permanent resident in Kansas, allegedly marked himself as a U.S. citizen when he registered to vote in February 2010.
Federal prosecutors say Johnson later cast a ballot in the November 2024 election.
He faces counts involving a false claim to U.S. citizenship, a false citizenship claim for voting purposes, fraudulent election conduct and voting by an alien in a federal election.
Mexican national Imelda Magallanes, 51, a lawful permanent resident in Texas, was charged with one count of voting by an alien in a federal election.
Voting records cited by DOJ show Magallanes registered in Midland County in October 2020 using her Texas driver’s license as identification and voted in the November 2024 general election.
In Hawaii, 20-year-old Filipino national Bernadette Acaso, also a lawful permanent resident, pleaded guilty to unlawfully voting as an alien after casting a mail-in ballot in the 2024 election.
Eight Registration Applications
Pennsylvania accounts for four of the 12 defendants, including two people DOJ describes as illegally present in the United States.
Cliff Sanon, 39, a Haitian national living in Philadelphia, was charged by criminal complaint with submitting a fraudulent voter registration application in February 2026 ahead of Pennsylvania’s May primary.
Prosecutors allege the application was one of eight fraudulent voter registration applications submitted by Sanon and say he also voted in the November 2022 election.
His September charge concerns the registration application rather than a separate count tied to that ballot.
Dilea Ochoa-Perez, 43, a Mexican national living in Coatesville whom DOJ also describes as illegally present, was charged with two counts of voting as an alien after allegedly voting in Chester County in both the November 2022 and November 2024 general elections.
The other two Pennsylvania defendants are lawful permanent residents.
Trinidad and Tobago national Sade Guppy, 37, was charged over an alleged vote in Philadelphia County during the November 2022 general election, while Mexican national Eduardo Gallardo Maldonado, 66, was charged over an alleged Philadelphia County vote in November 2024.
The Mail
Damon Matai Seei, 34, of Payson, Utah, was working for the U.S. Postal Service when prosecutors say he threw away mail entrusted to him for delivery, including approximately 300 mail-in ballots addressed to registered Utah voters.
Seei was charged with unlawful secretion, destruction, and delay of mail.
The Justice Department included photographs of ballots and a dumpster in a church parking lot with its announcement.
DOJ does not allege in the release that the discarded ballots were fraudulently completed, altered, or cast.
The September 28 cases follow another Justice Department announcement on September 18 involving 16 defendants charged with illegal voting and related election crimes.
Faces blurred by the U.S. Department of Justice. All parties facing unresolved charges are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.