Shadow
03-10-2012, 10:46 PM
As the sheriff of Lincoln County, W.Va., Jerry Bowman is sworn to uphold the law. But the 58-year-old law enforcement veteran stood in a federal courtroom in Charleston on Wednesday and pleaded guilty in a shocking voter fraud case that has stripped him of his job and could send him to prison for a decade.
Prosecutors say Bowman and former Lincoln County Clerk Donald Whitten, 62, were part of a scheme to steal the May 2010 Democratic primary by stuffing ballot boxes with illegal absentee ballots.
Bowman admitted to falsifying more than 100 of the absentee ballot applications and even voting with some of the ballots himself, while Whitten, who also pleaded guilty Wednesday, acknowledged lying to investigators about the plan to try to throw the election.
"It makes you mad," said Charles Brumfield, who ran against Bowman for Lincoln County circuit clerk, about having the election stolen from him. "It was hurtful. You just didn't think that would happen in today's society."
Brumfield told Fox News that on election night, he was ahead by about 235 votes. That is, until additional batches of absentee ballots started mysteriously appearing, repeatedly, throughout the evening.
"We knew something was wrong, because the post office closes at 4:30 ... you don't go to the post office at 9 o'clock at night and find ballots."
But for several hours on election night, "They kept coming out and saying 'we found some more ballots' ... and they did this about three times from 7 to 11 p.m., and when the final tally was taken, we lost," Brumfield said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/07/former-west-virginia-sheriff-county-clerk-plead-guilty-to-attempting-to-steal/#ixzz1omCe0uUS
Prosecutors say Bowman and former Lincoln County Clerk Donald Whitten, 62, were part of a scheme to steal the May 2010 Democratic primary by stuffing ballot boxes with illegal absentee ballots.
Bowman admitted to falsifying more than 100 of the absentee ballot applications and even voting with some of the ballots himself, while Whitten, who also pleaded guilty Wednesday, acknowledged lying to investigators about the plan to try to throw the election.
"It makes you mad," said Charles Brumfield, who ran against Bowman for Lincoln County circuit clerk, about having the election stolen from him. "It was hurtful. You just didn't think that would happen in today's society."
Brumfield told Fox News that on election night, he was ahead by about 235 votes. That is, until additional batches of absentee ballots started mysteriously appearing, repeatedly, throughout the evening.
"We knew something was wrong, because the post office closes at 4:30 ... you don't go to the post office at 9 o'clock at night and find ballots."
But for several hours on election night, "They kept coming out and saying 'we found some more ballots' ... and they did this about three times from 7 to 11 p.m., and when the final tally was taken, we lost," Brumfield said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/07/former-west-virginia-sheriff-county-clerk-plead-guilty-to-attempting-to-steal/#ixzz1omCe0uUS