Paterson City Council President Alex Mendez faces new charges in a superseding indictment related to the May 2020 municipal election.
Alongside his wife, Yohanny Mendez, and campaign workers Omar Ledesma and Iris Rigo, Mendez is accused of orchestrating a scheme involving the theft and forgery of ballots and voter registrations to secure his council seat.
The indictment alleges that the group unlawfully collected and tampered with vote-by-mail ballots, including destroying ballots not cast for Mendez and submitting fraudulent ones in their place.
According to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office,
“The 10-count superseding indictment alleges that Mendez, who represents the Third Ward on the Paterson City Council, his wife Yohanny Mendez and campaign workers Omar Ledesma and Iris Rigo tried to deprive Paterson residents of a fair election. Alex Mendez was first indicted in 2021 for election-related offenses. Further investigation by OPIA resulted in additional charges filed by complaint in October 2023 against the co-defendants, as well as additional charges for Alex Mendez, all stemming from the May 2020 election.
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Based on publicly filed documents and statements in court in this case, the OPIA investigation began after hundreds of mail-in ballots for the May 2020 Paterson election were found in a postal box in the neighboring municipality of Haledon, when all voting was being conducted via vote-by-mail because of COVID-19.
Members of the alleged conspiracy face several charges including Tampering with Public Records or Information (third degree), Falsifying or Tampering with Records (fourth degree), Forgery (third degree), and Election Fraud (second degree). Among the allegations, they are accused of submitting fictitious or fraudulent vote-by-mail registrations and ballots.
The superseding indictment contains a new charge of Theft (third degree) against the four defendants for allegedly taking other peoples’ ballots with the intent to deprive them of their vote. It also includes a new count of Receiving Stolen Property (third degree) for those four defendants, alleging they received ballots that they knew had been stolen.
It is further alleged that the defendants tried to cause one or more witnesses previously contacted by investigators to make additional, contradictory, and false statements – leading to the superseding indictment’s new charge of Witness Tampering (third degree).
The superseding indictment also charges an additional defendant, Ninoska Adames, a Paterson resident, with Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution (third degree) and Tampering with Public Records or Information (third degree). She allegedly falsified a voter certificate on a vote-by-mail ballot and gave false information to detectives with the intent to hinder the State’s investigation into the May 2020 election.
The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. Fourth-degree offenses could lead to up to 18 months in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.”
“As alleged, this case is not simply about a city council seat. The people’s right to vote and to have their voices heard was subverted by what we allege to be an unlawful conspiracy,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This was unfair to the voters of Paterson. It was, as the grand jury charged, fraud and theft.”
“The tenacious, hard work of the investigators and prosecutors on this case uncovered new information about the lengths the defendants allegedly went to in an attempt to rig Paterson’s municipal election and cover up their conduct,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA.
Mendez was initially indicted on election fraud charges in 2021.
In 2023, new charges have been brought against him, his wife Yohanny Mendez, and two other Paterson residents, Omar Ledesma and Iris Rigo.
Read the full press release at the time:
Mendez, 48, of Paterson, New Jersey, who was first indicted on election fraud charges in 2021, is facing additional charges along with several alleged co-conspirators: his wife, Yohanny Mendez, 48, as well as Omar Ledesma, 35, and Iris Rigo, 38, all Paterson residents. The charges are the result of an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA).
The initial OPIA investigation began when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service alerted the Attorney General’s Office that hundreds of mail-in ballots for the May 2020 Paterson municipal election were found in a mailbox in the neighboring municipality of Haledon. Hundreds of mail-in ballots were also found in a mailbox in Paterson, at a time when all voting was being conducted via vote-by-mail because of COVID-19 safety precautions.
It is alleged that prior to the May 2020 election, while he was a candidate seeking to represent the 3rd Ward, Mendez personally collected a number of mail-in ballots from households in that section of Paterson, in violation of the Vote-By-Mail Law. Mendez and his associates allegedly collected many ballots in the 3rd Ward over several days.
New Jersey allows a voter to give a completed ballot to a “bearer,” who must complete the bearer certification on the ballot envelope before returning the ballot on behalf of the voter to the county board of elections. Under state law, a candidate in an election is never permitted to serve as a ballot bearer on behalf of other voters in the district in which he is a candidate.
It is alleged that many of the ballots that the campaign collected were not sealed by voters when they were turned over. It is further alleged that after the ballots were brought to Mendez’s campaign headquarters, they were examined to see if the ballots were votes for Mendez. If the ballot did not select Mendez as the candidate of choice, his wife, Yohanny Mendez, allegedly would destroy the ballot and replace it with another mail-in ballot that did select Mendez for the council seat.
The investigation found that the blank ballots used as replacement ballots were obtained by stealing ballots out of voters’ mailboxes. Mendez associate Omar Ledesma is accused of taking ballots out of mailboxes in specific neighborhoods and apartment buildings in Paterson that were known to have a large number of residents supporting Mendez’s main opponent in the election, former Paterson Councilman William McKoy.
It is also alleged that if a voter turned over an incomplete ballot, campaign workers would complete it.
It is alleged that on or about May 5, 2020, Mendez personally observed from his wife’s vehicle as a large, heavy bag, completely filled with ballots, was emptied into the Haledon postal box prior to the election.
About one week later, Mendez’s campaign attorney filed a letter with the Passaic County Board of Elections, urging the board to count the Haledon ballots, even though Mendez knew they had been unlawfully collected and submitted to the county. State law indicates that a person serving as a ballot bearer can only do so for a maximum of three ballots each, or five if the individual is bearing ballots of immediate family members in the same household.
It is further alleged that after Mendez was indicted on February 24, 2021, on charges of election fraud and other offenses related to the May 12, 2020, Paterson election, Alex Mendez, Yohanny Mendez, and others, were captured in an audio recording agreeing to attempt to contact the witnesses against Alex Mendez and to propose a new statement that each witness could give that would be helpful to the defense.
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