The Tarrant County District Attorney in Fort Worth, Texas, has teamed up with the Texas Attorney General to make an arrest in a felony voter fraud case. The case involves a Mexican citizen who allegedly voted illegally in at least two Texas elections.
Rosa Maria Ortega has been charged in Tarrant County with two counts of illegal voting. The charge is a second degree felony in Texas.
“Protecting the integrity of elections is essential to our democracy and a top priority of my administration,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas from the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG). “As long as there are criminals seeking to exploit our system of elections, we stand ready to investigate, prosecute and restore confidence that the will of the people of Texas is heard.”
The discovery was made by Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson’s office and then referred to the OAG. It was learned that Ortega allegedly voted in the November 2012 general election and then again in the May 2014 primary runoff election. Both of these incidents took place in Dallas County.
Ortega is not a U.S. citizen and is therefore not eligible to vote in Texas elections.
Texas Election Code section 64.012 provides that:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) votes or attempts to vote in an election in which the person knows the person is not eligible to vote;
(2) knowingly votes or attempts to vote more than once in an election;
(3) knowingly impersonates another person and votes or attempts to vote as the impersonated person; or
(4) knowingly marks or attempts to mark another person’s ballot without the consent of that person.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree unless the person is convicted of an attempt. In that case, the offense is a state jail felony.
The case was presented to the Tarrant County Grand Jury by Assistant District Attorney Harry White, chief of the white collar and public integrity unit of the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
Ortega was arrested on Friday, November 6th, and is currently being held in the Tarrant County jail on a $10,000 bond.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
This article has been updated with additional information.
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