Two men convicted in Pennsylvania mayoral race election fraud case hit with harsher sentences than expected
A judge slapped two men who pleaded guilty in connection with a voting fraud scheme with tougher prison sentences than the government had even requested.
"In the court’s view, there are very few crimes in our federal code which are more serious than what you have committed," Judge Harvey Bartle III scolded former Millbourne Borough Council vice president Md Nurul Hasan, according to Votebeat. "What you have done is undermine our democratic process."
Hasan pleaded guilty to charges after engaging in an election fraud scheme while he was running for mayor in 2021, but the plot to subvert the will of voters did not even work — Hasan still lost the mayoral race.
"The defendants' efforts to steal the election for defendant MD NURUL HASAN were ultimately unsuccessful, as defendant HASAN still lost the general election by a vote of approximately 165 to 138," the indictment declares.
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According to a U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania press release, "Hasan … pleaded guilty in April to all 33 charges against him — one count of conspiracy, 16 counts of giving false information in registering to vote, and 16 counts of fraudulent voter registration. He was sentenced to 36 months in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $3,300 special assessment."
That prison time exceeds the government's request for 18 to 24 months of imprisonment.
Hasan resigned from the council earlier this year after he entered his plea, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.
Former council member MD Rafikul Islam, who "pleaded guilty in April to all seven charges against him — one count of conspiracy, three counts of giving false information in registering to vote, and three counts of fraudulent voter registration," has been "sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, one year of supervised release, $1,000 fine, and a $700 special assessment."
That prison time exceeds the government's request for zero to six months of imprisonment.
The federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, according to the Federal Judicial Center.
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Md Munsur Ali — who is currently listed online as a member of the Millbourne Borough council — has also pleaded guilty in the case.
He is slated to be sentenced next week, according to the press release.
"Ali, a member of the Millbourne Borough Council, pleaded guilty in April to all 25 charges against him — one count of conspiracy, 12 counts of giving false information in registering to vote, and 12 counts of fraudulent voter registration. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26," the release notes.