New election fraud charges against Paterson City Council President Alex Mendez and wife
PATERSON — Councilman Alex Mendez faces a new batch of criminal election fraud charges, including accusations against his wife and campaign manager, stemming from the 2020 ward council races that resulted in the long-pending indictment against him.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced late Wednesday afternoon that state investigators had determined that Mendez, 48, illegally collected ballots and oversaw the fraudulent mailing of ballots, while members of his campaign stole ballots from residential mailboxes and discarded several that did not show a vote for their candidate.
Platkin also said Mendez and his co-defendants tampered with witnesses to avoid prosecution.
“This is unfair,” Mendez said Wednesday. “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,” the City Council president said. “I’m fighting this to the end.”
Why did the new charges take 41 months?
Authorities did not reveal why it took 41 months after the May 2020 elections to file the new charges. The original case against Mendez has gone through repeated delays. He has maintained his innocence the whole time and even has built a budding alliance in recent months with his former adversary, Mayor Andre Sayegh.
Also charged in the case were the councilman’s wife, Yohanny Mendez, 48; his campaign manager, Omar Ledesma, 35; and political supporter Iris Rigo, 38, all Paterson residents.
“The defendants are accused of attempting to rig an election in their favor and to deprive the voters of Paterson of having their voices heard,” Platkin said. “The functioning of democracy relies on voters’ trust that their votes count and those votes determine the outcomes of elections.”
Thomas Eicher, executive director of the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said Mendez and his co-defendants tried to undermine their probe.
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“I’m grateful for the many additional months of work the investigative team invested in pursuing evidence of potential witness tampering,” Eicher said. “Their efforts uncovered more illegal conduct by these defendants, culminating in these new charges.”
Two defendants charged in the original election fraud case in June 2020 — Shelim Khalique and Abu Razyen — already have seen the accusations against them dismissed. Charges are still pending against Councilman Michael Jackson, who, like Mendez, has consistently said he did nothing wrong.
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What do the charges say?
The case involved an election conducted entirely with mail-in ballots during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Attorney General's Office said many of the ballots Mendez’s campaign collected were not sealed by voters when they were turned over. The state said that after the ballots were taken to Mendez’s campaign headquarters, they were examined to see if they were votes for Mendez. If a ballot did not select Mendez as the candidate, his wife allegedly would destroy the ballot and replace it with another mail-in ballot that did select Mendez for the council seat, Platkin’s announcement said.
The Attorney General's Office said the blank ballots used as replacements were obtained by stealing ballots out of voters’ mailboxes. Mendez associate Omar Ledesma is accused of taking ballots out of mailboxes in specific neighborhoods and apartment buildings in Paterson that were known to have a large number of residents supporting Mendez’s main opponent in the election, former Paterson Councilman William McKoy, Platkin said.
The charges also say that if a voter turned over an incomplete ballot, campaign workers would complete it.
On May 5, 2020, a week before Election Day, Mendez allegedly watched from his wife’s vehicle as a large, heavy bag, completely filled with ballots, was emptied into the Haledon postal box before the election.
Authorities have said the finding of Paterson election ballots at the Haledon post office was what triggered the probe.
About one week later, Platkin’s announcement said Mendez’s campaign attorney filed a letter with the Passaic County Board of Elections, urging the board to count the Haledon ballots, even though Mendez knew they had been unlawfully collected and submitted to the county.
Platkin's case evolves: Why did NJ drop 2020 election fraud charges against Paterson councilman's brother?
Authorities said that after Mendez was indicted on Feb. 24, 2021, on charges of election fraud, he, his wife, and others were recorded agreeing to attempt to contact the witnesses against Alex Mendez, so they could propose new statements that the witnesses could give that would be helpful to Mendez’s defense.
In addition to the announcement about Mendez, the state issued a press release saying it had charged Ninoska Adames, 33, of Paterson, with attempting to mislead investigators in the election case.
Who was charged? And with what?
The main suspects are charged as follows:
Alex Mendez, 48, of Paterson
• Conspiracy to commit election fraud (second degree).
• Fraud in casting mail-in vote (third degree).
• Unauthorized possession of ballots (third degree).
• Tampering with public records (third degree).
• Falsifying or tampering with records (fourth degree).
• Forgery (third degree).
• Conspiracy/tampering with or fabricating physical evidence (fourth degree).
• Soliciting or procuring or assisting unlawful registration and other violations of election law (third degree).
• Conspiracy to commit witness tampering (third degree).
Yohanny Mendez, 48, of Paterson
• Conspiracy to commit election fraud (second degree).
• Fraud in casting mail-in vote (third degree).
• Soliciting or procuring or assisting unlawful registration and other violations of election law (third degree).
• Conspiracy to commit witness tampering (third degree).
Omar Ledesma, 35, of Paterson
• Conspiracy to commit election fraud (second degree).
• Fraud in casting mail-in vote (third degree).
• Unauthorized possession of ballots (third degree).
• Fraudulent voting/interference with election (third degree).
• Tampering with public records (third degree).
• Falsifying or tampering with records (fourth degree).
• Forgery (third degree).
• Soliciting or procuring or assisting unlawful registration and other violations of election law (third degree).
Iris Rigo, 38, of Paterson
• Conspiracy to commit election fraud (second degree).
• Fraud in casting mail-in vote (third degree).
• Unauthorized possession of ballots (third degree).
• Tampering with public records (third degree).
• Falsifying or tampering with records (fourth degree).
• Forgery (third degree).
• Willfully suppressing records (third degree).
• Soliciting or procuring or assisting unlawful registration and other violations of election law (third degree).
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Alex Mendez faces new election fraud charges
