A resident of Luzerne Borough is among nine Pennsylvania residents charged separately with illegally voting despite knowing that they were not U.S. citizens, prosecutors announced Friday.<\/p>\n
Under both federal and state law, only United States citizens may vote in Pennsylvania, according to a joint press release from David Metcalf, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Brian Miller, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Nourten Kuruju, 64, of Luzerne, was charged by an information dated Oct. 15 with one count of voting by an alien. The information alleges that Kuruju, a citizen of Greece, illegally voted in the 2022 general election.<\/p>\n
Kuruju pleaded not guilty on Monday and was released after processing, according to online filings on the federal docket.<\/p>\n
An affidavit of probable cause \u2014 a sworn statement prepared by a law enforcement officer that outlines the factual basis and evidence that a crime was committed \u2014\u00a0was not among the online filings in the case.<\/p>\n
All of those charged except for one were identified in the press release as lawful permanent U.S. residents, although not U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
The cases were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpholding the integrity of our elections, and the right of American citizens to determine the outcome, is non-negotiable,\u201d U.S. Attorney Metcalf said. \u201cOur democracy depends on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese cases are important because the crime of illegal voting undermines the integrity of our elections and harms citizens by stealing the power of our votes,\u201d U.S. Attorney Miller said. \u201cIllegal voting is not a victimless crime but a serious affront to the principles of our democratic republic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIllegally casting a ballot in a federal election corrupts the electoral process and diminishes the voice of every lawful voter,\u201d said HSI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Nathan Abel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese alleged violations undermine public confidence in our democratic institutions and harm the citizens whose votes are entitled to determine our nation\u2019s future. HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate election-related crimes and hold accountable those who violate federal law,\u201d Abel said.<\/p>\n
Along with Kuruju, those charged in the Middle District of Pennsylvania include Joyce Donovan, 38, and Nina Nyawara, 21, both of Selinsgrove, Inna Henry, 52, of Harrisburg, and Joyce Pitts, 80, of Effort, all were charged by information with one count of Voting by an alien.<\/p>\n
Informations allege that Donovan and Nyawara, both citizens of Kenya, and Pitts, a citizen of the Netherlands, illegally voted in the 2024 general election. An information alleges that Henry, a citizen of Russia, illegally voted in the 2022 and 2024 general elections.<\/p>\n
If convicted, these defendants each face a maximum possible sentence of a fine, one year in prison, or both.<\/p>\n
Charged In the Eastern District of Pennsylvania were Artur Kopacz, 50, of Philadelphia, Osmal Loy, 70, of Fountain Hill, Yehuda Peer, 30, of Merion Station, and Alfredo Santiesteban, 73, of Philadelphia,<\/p>\n
Kopacz, a citizen of Poland, was charged with two counts of voting by an alien for allegedly voting in the 2022 and 2024 general elections.\u00a0If convicted, Kopacz faces a maximum possible sentence of a fine, two years in prison, or both.<\/p>\n
Loy and Santiesteban, both citizens of Cuba, and Peer, a citizen of Israel, all were charged with one count of voting by an alien for allegedly voting in the 2024 general election. Santiesteban was not identified in the press release as a lawful permanent U.S. resident.<\/p>\n
If convicted, Loy, Peer and Santiesteban each face a maximum possible sentence of a fine, one year in prison, or both.<\/p>\n
Most defendants, including Kuruju, entered not guilty pleas and were processed and released with various conditions. Bench warrants were issued for Loy and Santiesteban on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The charges and allegations contained in the informations are merely accusations. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A resident of Luzerne Borough is among nine Pennsylvania residents charged separately with illegally voting despite knowing that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[836,182,35741,803,139,28,30,29,69,1212,50,802],"class_list":["post-312914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-election","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-county","tag-politics","tag-top-stories-cvc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}