Three Floridians charged with signature fraud for gambling, marijuana initiatives

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has charged three paid signature collectors with submitting phony signatures for gambling and marijuana legalization initiatives, according to a Thursday news release.

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said, "To fraudulently misappropriate (the) process for personal gain is not only illegal but also violates the trust of law-abiding Floridians across the state.”

The state allows people and groups to propose amendments to the state constitution through what's called an "initiative petition process." Sponsors of proposed amendments have to gather a required number of signatures to get on the statewide ballot; those signatures have to be validated by local supervisors of elections.

Miami resident Zachary Paul Dworsky, 34, was arrested on Dec. 13 and charged with 15 felony counts each for criminal use of personal identification information and signing another person’s name or a fictitious name to a petition.

That petition was the one to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida. It's gotten more than 100,000 signatures over what's needed to qualify for the 2024 ballot, and it’s now awaiting approval – or denial – from the state Supreme Court before it can do so.

Clewiston resident David Lennard Simmons, 49, was arrested the same day. He was charged with 17 felony counts for fraudulent use of personal identification information of a deceased individual.

Simmons was collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment that has since been withdrawn. It would have let cardrooms offer casino gambling, like blackjack. The group that sponsored that amendment is now pushing another that would allow three new casinos, but it currently has no valid signatures.

And Orlando’s Natalie Marie Marrero, 33, was arrested last month. She’s accused of 16 felony counts each for fraudulent use of personal identification information and false swearing of voter registration information for the marijuana petition.

The arrests occurred following multiple statewide investigations led by FDLE’s Election Crime Unit, which worked with the Florida Department of State's Office of Election Crimes and Security and local elections supervisors, according to the release.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Three charged with turning in phony signatures for ballot questions