{"id":37548,"date":"2012-03-04T19:39:04","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T02:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37548"},"modified":"2012-03-05T11:21:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T18:21:00","slug":"sunland-park-employee-arrested-on-false-voting-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/03\/sunland-park-employee-arrested-on-false-voting-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunland Park employee arrested on false voting charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Silvia

Silvia Gomez<\/p><\/div>\n

DA wants to prosecute those \u2018who are soliciting the public to violate the election laws,\u2019 so she\u2019s offering amnesty to people who were \u2018influenced to participate in the Sunland Park election for illicit purposes\u2019 if they cooperate with investigators.<\/h4>\n

The director of Sunland Park\u2019s senior center was arrested today on felony charges alleging she influenced two El Paso residents to illegally vote for Daniel Salinas in the March 6 mayoral election.<\/p>\n

Silvia Gomez, who is also a former Sunland Park city councilor, faces two charges of false voting and two charges of conspiracy to commit false voting. Each is a fourth-degree felony, and she faces a maximum of six years in prison if convicted on all charges. She\u2019s being held at the Do\u00f1a Ana County Detention Center on a $50,000 surety bond.<\/p>\n

Read the criminal complaint and other documents related to Gomez\u2019s case here<\/a>. The redactions were made by NMPolitics.net.<\/p>\n

The charges stem from the investigation started last week by the offices of Secretary of State Dianna Duran and Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney Amy Orlando, who have alleged widespread voter fraud<\/a> in Sunland Park in advance of Tuesday\u2019s election. Orlando, who had a judge reject her petition<\/a> to delay Tuesday\u2019s election last week, has said additional individuals will be charged.<\/p>\n

Orlando told NMPolitics.net today it\u2019s clear that people \u201cassociated with the electoral process in Sunland Park,\u201d Salinas\u2019 campaign, and Sunland Park city government \u201chave attempted to illegally influence the vote and the campaign results for the Mar. 6 election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomez is the fifth city official to be charged in recent days. Last weekend, investigators filed extortion and other charges<\/a> against Salinas and City Manager Jamie Aguilera alleging they attempted to use a lap-dance video to force another candidate out of the mayoral race, and tampering-with-evidence charges against two other city employees related to the extortion case.<\/p>\n

The investigation is ongoing. Salinas remains on the ballot, but if he\u2019s elected and later convicted of a felony crime, he would be removed from office. Convicted felons can\u2019t hold office in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Details in Gomez case<\/h3>\n

In the new case, investigators allege that Gomez pushed two El Paso residents to illegally register to vote in Sunland Park and then cast ballots in the mayoral race for Salinas. The criminal complaint states the two went to Sunland Park City Hall to inquire about obtaining a business permit for vacant land they own in the city on Jan. 3. There, they came into contact with Gomez, who asked them to register and then vote for Salinas.<\/p>\n

When the two advised Gomez they were Texas residents, \u201cSilvia Gomez told them it was okay and that they could use Silvia Gomez\u2019s address as their residence on the voter registration form,\u201d the criminal complaint states.<\/p>\n

Though both are registered voters in Texas, they did what Gomez asked. Gomez, who is certified to register people to vote in New Mexico and has been doing it for years, turned in the voter registration forms to the Sunland Park City Clerk\u2019s Office on Jan. 5. The two voted on Feb. 14, during early voting.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s report says those two are among 12 registered New Mexico voters other than Gomez who list Gomez\u2019s home as their residence. Six of them, including the two cited in this case, registered earlier this year. Those two aren\u2019t the only ones investigators say live in Texas and aren\u2019t qualified to vote in the Sunland Park election.<\/p>\n

Though they\u2019re identified in public records, NMPolitics.net isn\u2019t yet naming those people, including the two whose votes led to the charges against Gomez, but will do so if they are charged.<\/p>\n

District attorney offers amnesty<\/h3>\n

Orlando isn\u2019t charging the two El Pasoans whose votes led to the charges against Gomez. Though illegally registering to vote and voting are fourth-degree felonies, those who were urged to do so, told it was OK, and didn\u2019t know otherwise will be granted amnesty if they cooperate with investigators, she said.<\/p>\n

Orlando is urging anyone who was \u201cinfluenced to participate in the Sunland Park election for illicit purposes\u201d to come forward and cooperate with investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district attorney\u2019s office is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting the individuals who are soliciting the public to violate the election laws,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That includes Gomez. The fact that she used her home address to register people to vote shows that Gomez knew \u201cshe was setting these people up to commit a crime,\u201d Orlando said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was taking advantage of them for her agenda,\u201d the district attorney said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The director of Sunland Park\u2019s senior center was arrested today on felony charges alleging she influenced two El Paso residents to illegally vote for Daniel Salinas in the March 6 mayoral election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,114,167,225],"class_list":["post-37548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-public-corruption","tag-sunland-park","tag-voter-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}