COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s Attorney General, Dave Yost, announced that grand juries have indicted six people on charges of illegal voting, a fourth-degree felony, in previous elections.
Yost called the right to vote sacred.
“If you’re not a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal to vote – whether you thought you were allowed to or not – you will be held accountable,” he said in a press release.
The grand juries indicted the following people for allegedly voting without having U.S. citizenship, according to the release:
- Ramesh Patel, 68, of North Royalton
- Lorinda Miller, 78, of Hudson
- Nicholas Fontaine, 32, of Kent
- Ahmed Aden, 35, of Columbus
- Van Thuy Cooper, 53, of Hilliard
- Maria Dearaujo, 62, of Columbus
While the release states that many of these individuals were legal residents, it alleges they did not have U.S. citizenship when they voted.
A Lorain County grand jury declined to charge a seventh person, an Oberlin College student.
The release states that the cases were investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and that their investigations into voter fraud continue.
“Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said in the release. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election, knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”
In a press release issued Wednesday, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley has called on Yost to dismiss the indictment against Ramesh Patel.
The prosecutor’s release states Patel died in December of 2022.
"This is one of the greatest examples of prosecutorial overreach I have ever witnessed,” O'Malley said in the release. “The practice of indicting the deceased is draconian. This is not how we would have handled this case in my office. I am calling on Ohio Attorney General David Yost to immediately dismiss this indictment.”
Bethany McCorkle, communications director for Yost's office, said to Spectrum News 1 via email: "Of course the case will be dismissed."