Forty-seven-year-old James “Lord” Brass reportedly surprised the federal agents surveilling him outside of his Victorville home when he left early in the morning around 4:45 a.m. on Thursday.
The agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation then followed Brass to a gas station, where they arrested him for allegedly running an election petition fraud scheme in Los Angeles.
‘If you mess with our elections, this FBI will find you.’
Two of his associates — 49-year-old Courtney Price of Jacksonville, Florida, and 33-year-old Jateisha Herron of Boron, California — have also been charged, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California.
The charges are the result of an investigation into video accounts given by some homeless people living on Skid Row, claiming that they were paid to sign the petitions.
Essayli cited the video investigation by James O’Keefe of the Citizen Journalism Foundation.
That video appears to show petition circulators passing around notes with names of registered voters so that homeless people can earn a few bucks by signing the petitions in their names.
In return for the seemingly fraudulent signatures, Brass allegedly received approximately $41,600 from coordinators related to a petition management company.
In order to submit the signatures, Brass and his accomplices allegedly signed declarations at the bottom of the petitions that each of the signatures were the “genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be,” to the best of their knowledge.
“Securing American elections from criminal interference is of the utmost importance to this FBI,” wrote FBI Director Kash Patel on social media Thursday. “If you mess with our elections, this FBI will find you.”
The California Post obtained video of the arrest of Brass by federal agents.
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Essayli said all three suspects were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony and that Brass and Price were also charged with one count of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.
“The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems. We will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved in corrupting our elections,” read a statement from Essayli.
Brass appeared to be wearing a shirt supporting the Los Angeles Rams football team during his arrest.
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