LANSING (WWJ) – Felony charges have been filed against 16 Michigan residents alleged to have schemed to sign documents saying former President Donald Trump won Michigan’s 2020 Presidential election.
Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday announced charges against the alleged false electors, including former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock of Milford.
Nessel alleges the false electors met in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020 and signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the “duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan.”
Nessel says "that was a lie."
They weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it. They carried out these actions with the hope and belief that the electoral votes of Michigan’s 2020 election would be awarded to the candidate of their choosing, instead of the candidate that Michigan voters actually chose," Nessel said.
After signing these fraudulent electoral documents, some of the alleged false electors allegedly tried to enter the state capitol and deliver their "fabricated electoral votes" to the Senate floor, but they were turned away, according to the AG's office.
The charged defendants are:
• Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
• William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
• Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
• Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
• Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
• John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
• Mary-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
• Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
• Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
• Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
• James Renner, 76, of Lansing
• Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
• Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
• Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
• Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
• Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming
Each defendant has been charged with:
• One count of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery, a 14-year felony
• Two counts of Forgery, a 14-year felony
• One count of Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony
• One count of Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony
• One count of Conspiracy to Commit Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony
• Two counts of Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony.
“The false electors’ actions undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan,” Nessel said, per a press release.
Nessel detailed the allegations in an 11-minute-long video posted to her department's YouTube page.
This is a developing news story. Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest details as they become available.
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