FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2018 file photo, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. poses for a portrait outside of his home in Bladenboro, N.C. The North Carolina political operative at the center of a ballot fraud scandal is facing criminal charges for his activities in the 2016 elections and the Republican primary in 2018. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, that Dowless was arrested after grand jury indictments alleging illegal possession of absentee ballots and obstruction of justice. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, File)
March 08, 2019 - 9:40 AM
RALEIGH, N.C. - The last of five people charged with illegally collecting mail-in ballots in North Carolina's undecided congressional election has turned herself in.
State criminal investigators say Rebecca D. Thompson presented herself to authorities late Thursday, a week after being charged. Bladen County sheriff's deputies said Friday she wasn't booked into jail. Thompson's published phone numbers weren't working Friday.
Thompson and four others - including political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless - were charged with illegal ballot handling and conspiracy involving elections in the 9th congressional district in 2016 and May 2018.
Witnesses say ahead of November's election Dowless' workers illegally collected other people's absentee ballots, forged signatures and filled in votes for local candidates. That's illegal in North Carolina law for anyone other than the voter or a close relative to do.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019