February 08, 2019 - 2:03 PM
NEW BERN, N.C. - A North Carolina woman who helped her immigrant boyfriend register and vote is going to prison for helping the non-citizen vote.
U.S. District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan this week sentenced 66-year-old Denslo Allen Paige to two months in prison and a $250 fine. Paige advised Guadalupe Espinosa-Pena to register and vote in the November 2016 elections though he was ineligible as a Mexican citizen.
Espinosa-Pena was among 19 foreign nationals charged with illegal voting in August by federal prosecutors in eastern North Carolina.
Paige was a seasonal poll worker in Wake County, but she said she was never taught legal residents holding green cards like Espinosa-Pena weren't allowed to vote. Paige said she thought workers at a help desk at the polling site would know if he could vote.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019