{"id":409642,"date":"2026-09-24T21:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409642\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:18:08","slug":"florida-prosecutors-hand-down-20-indictments-for-voting-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409642\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida prosecutors hand down 20 indictments for voting fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB<\/a>) – The State of Florida announced Thursday that 20 Florida residents have been indicted, accused of voter fraud in previous elections.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, along with Gov. Ron DeSantis, announced the prosecutions in a statewide election-integrity operation targeting illegal voting in Florida elections.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier\u2019s office said since Florida established the Office of Election Crimes, there have been more than 100 election fraud-related prosecutions. <\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida will not allow anyone to steal the vote of Americans at the ballot box,\u201d said Uthmeier. \u201cThese defendants swore they were qualified electors, cast ballots in our elections, and later confirmed they were never eligible to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigations began with referrals from the Office of Election Crimes and county Supervisors of Elections. Investigators obtained voter-registration applications, poll-book signatures or vote-by-mail certificates, and post-election ineligibility notices. <\/p>\n

The Office of Statewide Prosecution is charging 16 noncitizens who registered by falsely claiming United States citizenship and then voted, and four convicted felons who registered and voted while still on probation.<\/p>\n

Sarasota County schools respond to attorney general\u2019s teacher harassment claim<\/a><\/p>\n

Uthmeier\u2019s office alleges the suspects arrested so far committed the following crimes:<\/p>\n

Astrid Shamatu Navarrete Quintana, 24, of Fort Myers, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident since 2023. She registered in 2024, falsely affirming she was a United States citizen, and voted in person on November 5, 2024. She later signed a Citizenship Acknowledgement Form admitting she is not a United States citizen. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting and False Swearing.<\/p>\n

Selvin Uton Whilby, 74, of Tampa, a Jamaican national and lawful permanent resident since March 1, 1989. He registered in 2008, falsely affirming citizenship, and voted by mail in the 2024 Primary and 2024 General Elections as part of a vote-by-mail history dating to 2008. He later signed a form agreeing he is not a United States citizen. He is charged with two counts of Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Cyntia Vanessa Canales, 62, of Ocala, a Chilean national and lawful permanent resident. She registered in Marion County in 2012 and again in 2022, each time falsely affirming she was a United States citizen and listing her place of birth as Florida. She voted early in person on October 27, 2024. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Craig William Smith, 69, of Ocala, a Bahamian national and lawful permanent resident since 1978. He registered in 2002, affirming he was a United States citizen, and voted in the 2024 primary and 2024 general election as part of a voting history dating to 2006. He later signed a Citizenship Acknowledgement Form admitting he is not a United States citizen. He is charged with two counts of Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Tracey Sabrina Jones, 49, of Lakeland, a United Kingdom national and lawful permanent resident since 1984. She registered in 1995 affirming citizenship, and voted early in person on October 26, 2024. She later signed a form admitting she is ineligible to register to vote. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Kadian Gabrielle Amai Johnson, 29, of Lehigh Acres, a Jamaican national and lawful permanent resident since 2018. She registered on September 30, 2024, falsely affirming citizenship, and voted in person on November 5, 2024. She later signed a Citizenship Acknowledgement Form admitting she is not a United States citizen. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting and False Swearing.<\/p>\n

Mei-Lin Johnston, 57, of Okeechobee, an Indonesian national and lawful permanent resident since 2022. She registered on November 8, 2022, falsely affirming she was a United States citizen, and voted in person on October 24, 2024. She later signed a form admitting she is not a United States citizen. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Garcia Villegas, 65, of Lake City, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident since 2021. He registered on September 20, 2022, falsely affirming he was a United States citizen, and voted early in person on October 30, 2024. He later agreed in writing that he is not a United States citizen. He is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.<\/p>\n

Manon M. Raux, 62, of Naples, a Canadian national and lawful permanent resident since 1991. She registered on September 18, 2024, falsely affirming citizenship, and voted early in person on October 29, 2024. She later signed a form admitting she is ineligible to register to vote. She is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting and False Swearing.<\/p>\n

James Mark Hollingsworth, 62, of Lake Suzy, a Canadian national and lawful permanent resident since 1967. He registered through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in 2021 and voted by mail in both the 2024 Primary and 2024 General Elections. After receiving a non-citizen notice, he emailed the Supervisor of Elections acknowledging he is a permanent resident and stating he had been voting in Florida. He is charged with two counts of Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting and two counts of False Swearing.<\/p>\n

Donta Ta White, 44, of Tampa, a convicted felon serving a 10-year probation sentence imposed May 25, 2022, that does not terminate until May 24, 2032. After signing a Florida Department of Corrections form warning that it is unlawful to register or vote before completing all terms of his sentence, White submitted two October 2024 voter-registration applications falsely affirming that his voting rights had been restored and voted early in person on October 25, 2024. He is charged with Unqualified Electors Willfully Voting and two counts of False Swearing.<\/p>\n

Giorgio Dominique Mucelli, 66, of Melbourne, a Canadian citizen and lawful permanent resident who is charged with Voting by a Non-Citizen Elector and False Affirmation after voting in seven General Elections from 2004 through 2024, including the 2024 General Election.<\/p>\n

Each charged offense is a third-degree felony. If convicted as charged, most of the defendants face up to 10 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. Hollingsworth faces up to 20 years, and White faces up to 15 years.<\/p>\n

The investigation remains active and ongoing. Additional charges and arrests are expected.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The State of Florida announced Thursday that 20 Florida residents have been indicted, accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4864,2811,28,30,29,162596,4100,7910],"class_list":["post-409642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-arrests","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fruad","tag-indictments","tag-uthmeier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}