Former PA congressman pleads guilty to ballot-stuffing for Democrats in federal elections

A former Pennsylvania congressman has pleaded guilty to extensive voter fraud, including stuffing ballot boxes for Democratic candidates, spanning multiple elections in the state.

Former U.S. Rep. Michael "Ozzie" Myers, 79, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records, and conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Federal prosecutors said Myers orchestrated schemes to fraudulently stuff ballot boxes for Democratic candidates in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Pennsylvania elections.

Myers admitted to bribing an elections judge, Domenick Demuro, in a voter fraud scheme over several years. Demuro pleaded guilty in May 2020 and was convicted for his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certify false voting results.

EX-DEM CONGRESSMAN ACCUSED OF BALLOT STUFFING, BRIBERY AND OBSTRUCTION

Myers also admitted to conspiring to commit election fraud with another elections judge, Marie Beren, who pleaded guilty to the scheme in October 2021.

"Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy," U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said in a press release. "If even one vote has been illegally cast or if the integrity of just one election official is compromised, it diminishes faith in process."

Myers was expelled from Congress in 1980 after being caught taking bribes in the Abscam sting investigation, when he was convicted of bribery and conspiracy for taking money from FBI agents who posed as Arab sheiks. He served more than a year in prison.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Myers also served six years in the Pennsylvania House before his 1976 election to Congress.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.