North Texas mayoral candidate accused of mail ballot fraud in upcoming election
A Carrollton mayoral candidate was in custody Thursday after being arrested on charges of mail ballot fraud, according to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Zul Mirza Mohamed, 39, was taken into custody on Wednesday and he remained in the Denton County Jail on Thursday. A bond has not been set for the Carrollton resident. Carrollton is about 40 miles northeast of Fort Worth.
Mohamed faces 84 counts of mail ballot application fraud and 25 counts of unlawful possession of an official mail ballot, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a Thursday news release. All 109 counts are felony charges, according to county officials.
“Mail ballots are inherently insecure and vulnerable to fraud,” Paxton said. “I am committed to safeguarding the integrity of our elections. My office is prepared to assist any Texas county in combating this form of fraud.”
Mohamed is accused of obtaining a virtual mailbox using a false identity, forging at least 84 voter registration applications for unknowing Denton County residents and having them sent to a fraudulent location.
When he was arrested Wednesday, Paxton said, Mohamed was in the process of stuffing envelopes with additional mail ballot applications for nearby Dallas County.
The investigation was conducted by the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, Lewisville police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Denton County Elections Administration and the Denton County District Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, Mohamed faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
In September, Denton County Elections Administration staff first noticed irregularities in several applications for ballots by mail and began reviewing additional applications, according to a Denton County news release. On Sept. 23, elections staff informed the Sheriff’s Office of possible fraudulent activities.
Absentee ballots had been requested to be sent to a P.O. Box in Lewisville, alleged to belong to a nursing home facility, the county release said.
Investigators made contact with Carrollton residents for whom ballots had been requested and learned the residents had not asked for any ballots be mailed to the P.O. Box, the release said. Investigators also found out the P.O. Box had been obtained with a fictitious Texas driver’s license and fake University of North Texas student ID.
They began surveillance of the postal facility and placed an undercover officer at the facility. On Wednesday, Mohamed picked up a box of the requested ballots at the post office and investigators followed him to the 1600 block of Bennington Drive in Carrollton, the release said. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the residence.
Investigators said they found the box containing the ballots in the bedroom and the box and several ballots had been opened. The fake driver’s license used to rent the P.O. Box was also found during the search, they said.
“The fact an actual candidate for public office would engage in these activities is appalling,” Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree said in the release. “We will continue to aggressively investigate allegations of voter fraud.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 1:07 PM.
