Woman pleads guilty after St. Joseph County flagged fake petition signatures
SOUTH BEND, Ind.— A 27-year-old Illinois woman appeared in the St. Joseph County Courthouse infront of Judge Sanford Friday morning after being accused of forging voter signatures to help place a presidential candidate on Indiana’s 2024 ballot.
Karina Escobar Perez entered a guilty plea to a Level 6 felony counterfeiting charge and acknowledged knowing that many of the petition signatures she turned in were not valid.
Investigators said Escobar Perez was contracted by a third-party company, Campaign Engineers, and paid $5,000 to gather 500 signatures in 5 days as part of an attempt to get Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillip to appear on the Indiana ballot.
Out of 530 signatures submitted, only 19 were validated through the Indiana Statewide Voter Registration System.
Several people listed on the petitions told investigators they had not signed them, and one had even died back in 2016.
St. Joseph County election and voter registration team found inconsistencies in address, signatures, and zip codes on the petition.
County Clerk, Amy Rolfes, said the case is a testament to the County’s commitment to fair elections.
"When I ran for clerk my number one promise that I made to the voters of Saint Joseph County was for election integrity because in Saint Joseph County election fraud is not a conspiracy theory election fraud is real,” said Rolfes.
The Phillips Campaign told ABC57 back in 2024 it was reviewing possible legal options after learning of potential misconduct by Campaign Engineers.
Escobar Perez is scheduled to return to court Feb. 5 at 9am.