Ex-Marco councilor Victor Rios guilty of fraud, not guilty of forgery in condo election trial

Dan Glaun, Naples Daily News
·2 min read

A Collier County jury found former Marco Island City Councilor Victor Rios guilty of fraudulent use of personal information but not guilty of forgery following a three-day trial over his alleged manipulation of a 2019 condo board election.

Rios, 80, was convicted of three counts of personal information fraud and cleared of two counts of forging a public record. Each count is a third-degree felony carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison. The court has not yet scheduled a sentencing hearing.

Rios was elected to the Marco Island council in 2014 and resigned mid-term in October 2020, citing "personal reasons." Four months later, authorities charged him with fraud for allegedly fabricating votes to remain on the board of the Belize Condominium Association.

Rios' defense attorney did not return a request for comment prior to publication. The former councilor denied wrongdoing in a 2019 interview with The Marco Eagle.

"I swear on the Bible I have never committed an illegal act," Rios said at the time.

More: Rios denies neighbor's accusation of 'ballot-forging'

Rios allegedly altered ballots to make it appear that condo residents who did not vote in the election had voted for him. The election results showed a 97 percent voting rate, which one resident cited as suspicious in a complaint to the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The election was contentious, and two residents asserted their right to inspect the ballots, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.

The residents found that some of the ballot envelopes appeared to bear the same handwriting and 12 people who had purportedly voted for Rios told investigators that they had not in fact voted, according to the FDLE report. Forensic testing allegedly found Rios' DNA on the envelopes of the contested ballots.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Ex-Marco Island councilor Victor Rios guilty of three counts in condo trial