Attorney General Bill Schuette McCotter Petition Fraud Charges PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT Don Yowchuang,

Attorney General Bill Schuette
PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT
McCotter Petition Fraud Charges
Don Yowchuang, Deputy District Director
Eleven Felonies, Six Misdemeanors
a 10 counts of Election Law Forgery, each a 5 year felony
a 1 count of Conspiracy, a 5 year felony
a 6 counts of Falsely Signing a Nominating Petition as Circulator,
each a 93 day misdemeanor
Paul Seewald, District Director
One Felony, Nine Misdemeanors
a
1 count of Conspiracy, a 5 year felony
a 9 counts of Falsely Signing a Nominating Petition as Circulator,
each a 93 day misdemeanor
Mary Melissa Turnbull, District Representative
One Felony, One Misdemeanor
a 1 count of Conspiracy, a 5 year felony
a 1 count of Falsely Signing a Nominating Petition as Circulator,
a 93 day misdemeanor
Lorianne O’Brady, Former Scheduler
Five Misdemeanors
a 5 counts of Falsely Signing a Nominating Petition as Circulator,
each a 93 day misdemeanor
A criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guility.
Attorney General Bill Schuette
PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT
Evidence of Possible Election Law Forgery
Pursuant to MCL 168.937
Petition #15
Example of Alleged
Forged Documents:
Petition #15, #78
The Attorney General’s
Office Alleges:
Petition #78
Voter signatures obtained
on petitions during another
election cycle were cut from
the original petition and
electronically pasted onto a
blank petition which already
contained false dates of
voter signing. The resulting
false document was then
duplicated on a copy
machine. This resulted in two
separate false documents,
petitions #15 and #78.
Defendant Yowchuang then
signed both petitions, falsely
certifying that the documents
were genuine and that he
had circulated the petitions.
He dated petition #15
May 4, 2012, and dated the
duplicate copy (#78)
May 5, 2012.