A former Democratic congressman is going to prison for election fraud.
Michael “Ozzie” Myers of Philadelphia was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on Tuesday, according to a Justice Department news release.
The politician served nearly two terms in the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1980, representing what was then Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.
Myers admitted to orchestrating the fraudulent stuffing of ballot boxes in Pennsylvania elections in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, according to the Department of Justice.
The political operative worked with elections judges Marie Beren and Domenick Demuro in his fraud operation, according to Fox News. Demuro admitted in May 2020 to taking bribes from Myers, and Beren “pleaded guilty to the scheme in October 2021.”
Myers arranged ballot stuffing in favor of Democratic candidates who had paid him “consulting fees,” according to the Justice Department.
The corrupt election workers would add ballots in favor of Myers’ clients and proceed to certify the compromised results.
In a remarkable twist, this isn’t even the first time that Myers has been locked up for corruption.
Myers served three years of prison time for accepting bribes from FBI agents posing as wealthy Arab sheikhs seeking political favors in the so-called “Abscam” scandal, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
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The Democrat would be expelled from the House in 1980 for the scandal, becoming one of the few representatives in the history of Congress to be given the boot.
Prosecutors are pointing to Myers’ crimes as poison to election confidence in Philadelphia.
“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy,” United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in the Justice Department news release.- story continues below
“If even one vote has been illegally cast or if the integrity of just one election official is compromised, it diminishes faith in process.”
FBI agent Jacqueline Maguire had even sharper words for Myers.
“Through his actions, Ozzie Myers pointedly disdained both the will of Philadelphia voters and the rule of law. He’s now a federal felon twice over, heading back behind bars, with time to consider the great consequence of free and fair elections.”
Myers was remanded immediately into federal custody after his Tuesday sentencing, with U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond expressing his belief that the corrupt politician had learned nothing 40 years after his first federal prison bid, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Myers’ son briefly interrupted proceedings in an attempt to “say goodbye” to his father before U.S Marshals prepared to haul him away, according to the Inquirer.