AUSTIN – Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office’s latest election
integrity prosecution in Victoria County. Monica Mendez of Port Lavaca
pleaded guilty to 26 felony counts of voter fraud, including three
counts of illegal voting, eight counts of election fraud, seven counts
of assisting a voter to submit a ballot by mail, and eight counts of
unlawful possession of a mail ballot. Mendez ran a vote-harvesting
operation on behalf of a subsidized housing corporation in order to
influence the outcome of a utility board election.
After
Mendez entered a guilty plea on all 26 counts and confirmed in court
that all counts could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, District
Judge Eli Garza sentenced Mendez to five years’ deferred adjudication
probation.
The
case was investigated and prosecuted by Attorney General Paxton’s
Election Integrity team in cooperation with the Victoria County District
Attorney’s Office.
Read a copy of the indictment here.
