The Florida Division of Legislation Enforcement (FDLE) on Wednesday introduced the arrests of two people — Donna Prentes Brady, 66, and Toye Ann La Rocca, 63 — for alleged election crimes violations.
Authorities arrested Brady on March 13 on two counts of casting a couple of poll in any election, in accordance with the discharge. She reportedly voted in-person for the 2020 state major and common election in Florida and by mail in those self same elections for New Jersey. Her alleged violations quantity to a third-degree felony.
Donna Prentes Brady, 66, of Ocala and Toye Ann La Rocca, 63, of Fort Walton Seashore. (FDLE)
In keeping with the discharge, the Workplace of the State Lawyer, Fifth Judicial Circuit, is prosecuting the case.
Authorities arrested La Rocca final week on “one count of false swearing of voter registration information and two counts of unqualified electors willfully voting, all third-degree felonies,” per the discharge, which defined that the lady voted in 2022 whereas serving probation for a DUI conviction.
Per the discharge:
As a result of La Rocca is a convicted felon, she can not vote till she completes her sentence. La Rocca voted in particular person for the first election in Okaloosa County and voted by mail within the common election.
La Rocca was arrested final Wednesday by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies and booked into the Okaloosa County Jail. She will probably be prosecuted by the Workplace of the State Lawyer, First Judicial Circuit.
The arrests come almost a 12 months after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a invoice into regulation crafting a regulation enforcement unit centered on defending election integrity and growing penalties for sure voting violations.
As Breitbart Information reported:
Florida Senate Invoice 524 created the Workplace of Election Crimes and Safety underneath Florida’s State Division. The newly created workplace is allowed to evaluate allegations of voter fraud and conduct preliminary investigations into the allegations.
Earlier than this regulation, Florida’s governor might appoint officers to analyze alleged violations of state election regulation. In keeping with the AP, it’s now obligatory for the governor to pick a gaggle of particular officers from the Florida Division of Legislation Enforcement to deal with election regulation violations.
“Some of them may not care as much about the election stuff. I think it’s been mixed at how those reactions are going to be. So we just want to make sure whatever laws are on the books, that those laws are enforced,” DeSantis stated on the time.
Months later, DeSantis introduced costs in opposition to 20 people — former convicts — discovered with voting illegally within the 2020 election.
“You can have all these great policy reforms and it’s important to do it, but if it’s not actually enforced, then what difference is it gonna make at the end of the day?” DeSantis requested, defending the crackdowns.
“The fact of the matter is, if there are certain rules and regulations in place, if people don’t think that those are gonna be enforced, you’re gonna have more violations. That’s just the way it goes,” he added.
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