SALT LAKE CITY — Eleven people have been charged with forging or obtaining invalid signatures for political candidates last year.
The Utah Attorney General's office announced the charges on Monday, saying they investigated after the cases were referred to them by the State Auditor, the Elections Office, and the Washington County Clerk's Office.
All 11 suspects were charged with multiple crimes, either of forgery or "forgery-related," the AG's office wrote.
All but five of them are from outside the state of Utah. Some of them were working for a company called "Gather," while others were hired as independent contractors. Most were assigned to gather signatures in Washington County and Iron County, while others worked in Tooele, Salt Lake or Utah counties.
The suspects and their charges were:
- Arkemi Robinson, age 49, of New Orleans, Louisiana
- Ten 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Benson Tohikoula Angilau, age 29, of Taylorsville, Utah
- Nine 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- One 3rd-degree felony count of Communications Fraud
- Colton Louis Drake, age 23, of Vancouver, Washington
- Two 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Eight Class-A misdemeanor counts of Violation of Certificate of Nomination Procedures
- Denton Williams, age 25, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Eight 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Phyllif D. Karpeh, age 21, of Lilburn, Georgia
- Seven 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Sakura Jordan (AKA Sakaria Lynn Hunnicutt), age 43, of Missouri City, Texas
- Six 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Rocko John Huntsman, age 20, of Toquerville, Utah
- Eight 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- One Class-A misdemeanor count of Violation of Certificate of Nomination Procedures
- One Class-A misdemeanor count of Communications Fraud
- Robert Randall Edwards, age 35, of Riviera Beach, Florida
- Five 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- Kevin W. Jeong, age 22, of Orem, Utah
- Four 3rd-degree felony counts of Forgery
- One Class-A misdemeanor count of Violation of Certificate of Nomination Procedures
- Axel John-Anthony Burt*, age 22, of Pleasant Grove, Utah
- Six Class-A misdemeanor counts of Violation of Certificate of Nomination Procedures
- Joseph Elias Wilde, age 19, of St. George, Utah
- Four Class-A misdemeanor counts of Violation of Certificate of Nomination Procedures
Those charged with forgery allegedly signed voters' names on the petitions themselves, while those charged with violating procedures are accused of obtaining a signature from a family member of the voter whose name was printed.
Prosecutors say the defendants were trained and warned against "committing fraud, enticing voters with false information, or accepting signatures from someone not qualified to sign."
Charging documents did not state which campaign(s) the suspects were gathering signatures for.
*Editor's note: Defendant Axel Burt has no known relation to the author of this article.
