Two charged in Los Angeles for submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications

Two men have been charged with 41 counts for allegedly submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications on behalf of homeless people, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Marcos Raul Arevalo, 34, and 53-year-old Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro, aka Mark Anthony Gonsalves, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud, eight counts of voter fraud, four counts of procuring and offering a false or forged instrument and four misdemeanor counts of interference with a prompt transfer of a completed affidavit.

Montenegro faces an additional 10 counts of voter fraud, seven counts of procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, two counts of perjury and five misdemeanor counts of interference with a prompt transfer of a completed affidavit, the district attorney’s office also.

Montenegro allegedly submitted more than 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications from July to October 2020. He also is accused of falsifying names, addresses and signatures on nomination papers, under penalty of perjury, to run for mayor in the city of Hawthorne.

Montenegro faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 years and eight months in state prison. Arevalo faces a possible maximum sentence of seven years in prison.