LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Las Vegas man is accused of illegally paying a woman to improperly register Republican voters in a rural Nevada town ahead of the GOP primary election last year, authorities said Friday.
Stephen Gregory Zority’s attorney, Tom Pitaro, declined to comment on a seven-count indictment filed Thursday by state Attorney General Adam Laxalt in a case arising from the prosecution of Tina Marie Parks.
Zority, 29, is due in court May 25 to answer felony charges including unlawful compensation for registering voters and violations of election laws.
Parks was arrested last summer on 11 felony charges including intimidating voters and perjury. She pleaded guilty Dec. 2 to one low-level felony voter registration offense, admitting that she improperly registered voters outside a Wal-Mart store about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. She faces one to four years in prison at sentencing May 19.
Parks’ attorney, Nathan Gent, did not immediately respond to email and telephone messages.
A spokeswoman for Laxalt, Monica Moazez, declined to comment about the case.
Zority’s indictment alleges that from April to June 2016 he provided Parks with Wal-Mart gift cards and cash based on the number of Republican voters she signed up; that he failed to put his name on a duplicate registration form; and that he directed Parks not to put her name on registration copies.
The criminal complaint in Parks’ case said she was working for Engage Nevada, a conservative voter registration group, when she marked “Republican” or “nonpartisan” on forms of people who said they were Democrats or didn’t specify their party affiliation.
A Nevada state Secretary of State investigator said at least three people were affected, including at least one who was unable to vote in the June 14 primary.
In another pending voter registration irregularities case, Renaldo Johnson, 55, of Las Vegas, is due for sentencing June 29 after pleading guilty April 11 to one felony charge of misconduct in signing, filing or altering a petition. He could face probation or up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Johnson’s court-appointed attorney didn’t immediately respond Friday to telephone and email messages.
Johnson had been indicted in December on 15 charges including perjury and misuse of personal identification after he was accused of submitting false signatures in an unsuccessful bid to qualify Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein for the November ballot in Nevada.
Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said following Johnson’s arrest that they knew of no evidence that anyone in Nevada voted illegally last November. A spokesman for Cegavske didn’t immediately respond Friday to messages.
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