MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. – A Warren man has been sentenced in connection with defrauding several gubernatorial candidates in a signature collection scheme during the 2022 election cycle, officials said.
Shawn Wilmoth appeared before Macomb County Judge James Maceroni in the 16th Circuit Court on Wednesday, March 18, and was sentenced to 4 to 20 years of incarceration, according to a release from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.
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He was found guilty of the following:
- One count, Conducting a Criminal Enterprise;
- Two counts, False Pretenses, $100,000 or more;
- Two counts, False Pretenses, $50,000 to $100,000;
- Three counts, False Pretenses, $20,000 to $50,000;
- Seven counts, Use of a Computer to Commit a Crime, $20,000 or more; and
- Seven counts, Election Law Forgery.
Wilmoth defrauded several gubernatorial candidates, including Donna Brandenburg, Mike Brown, Perry Johnson and Michael Markey, and judicial candidates Tricia Dare, John Cahalan and John Michael Malone.
The candidates hired Wilmoth, either directly or through consultants, to gather the signatures they needed to get on the August 2022 primary ballots.
Altogether, Wilmoth’s company was paid nearly $400,000 to collect legitimate signatures, but instead, he knowingly submitted tens of thousands of forged ones on nomination petitions to the campaigns.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections discovered the forgeries quickly, and the Department of State referred the matter to the attorney general’s office to investigate in June 2022.
Wilmoth must pay $376,601 in restitution to the victims, according to the release.
He was convicted alongside his co-defendant, Willie Reed, of Pompano Beach, Florida. They were both charged in this case in September 2023.
Reed’s sentencing is scheduled for March 31.