New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is bringing election fraud charges against Democrats Alex Mendez and Dr. Henrilynn Ibezim.
The alleged election fraud occurred between 2020 and 2021.
Mendez, the president of Paterson City Council, is facing charges pertaining to mail-in ballots. He previously faced charges in June 2020 and February 2021.
According to Platkin, Mendez collected a number of ballots from homes, violating state law as candidates cannot collect ballots for the district where they are running.
Platkin also alleges that Mendez’s campaign destroyed the ballots that were not supportive.
Executive Director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, Thomas Eicher, stated, “We allege that Mendez and his associates unlawfully collected ballots and tampered with ballots to give him an unfair edge in the race for the 3rd Ward seat on the Paterson City Council.”
Ibezim was a candidate in a 2021 mayoral election for Plainfield, New Jersey, and has been charged with allegedly directing associates to fill out registration applications.
“The defendant allegedly resorted to fraud in an alleged attempt to unfairly prevail in this election,” said Eicher. “This desperate attempt to artificially and illegally inflate support for his candidacy was designed to not only cheat his political opponents out of a victory, but also to cheat the people of Plainfield out of their right to choose their elected officials.”
Reporting from Just the News:
Mendez didn’t respond to a request for comment on Friday. However, Mendez said on Wednesday, “This is unfair. They rushed to charge me four years ago, and when they knew those charges weren’t working and were going nowhere, they charge me with something else.” “I’m looking forward to my day in court,” he added. “I’m fighting this to the end.”
