VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Authorities in Virginia have filed election fraud charges against a third former campaign staffer for ex-Republican Congressman Scott Taylor.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Heather Guillot was indicted Tuesday by a Virginia Beach grand jury.
Guillot’s attorney, Richard Doummar, declined to comment on the indictment.
Guillot had served as a consultant for Taylor’s 2018 reelection bid. Guillot is accused of submitting forged signatures of voters in order to get a third-party spoiler candidate on the 2018 ballot.
The effort was widely seen as a strategy to siphon votes away from Taylor’s Democratic opponent, Elaine Luria, who ultimately won the race.
Special prosecutor John Beamer said the ballot fraud investigation isn’t over. He said he expects to seek at least one more indictment.
Beamer added that no one has been cleared, including Taylor. The former congressman is challenging Luria again this year in an effort to get his seat back.
“He’s part of the campaign and the whole campaign is under investigation,” Beamer said.
Taylor’s campaign manager, Regan Roberts, said in a statement that Taylor had “no knowledge of any wrongdoing” and that he would never condone the “unethical decisions” of his former campaign staffers.
Roberts said Taylor was told by state police that he was not under investigation and only was wanted as a witness. She also said that prosecutors were “more preoccupied with political justice … than actual justice.”
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