WARREN — Three people accused of collecting fraudulent signatures to help get numerous political candidates on the 2022 ballot — including five Republican gubernatorial candidates — will now face trial on multiple felony charges, a Warren judge ruled Thursday.
All the candidates had their petitions rejected by the state Bureau of Elections because of the fake signatures and were unable to run in the August 2022 primary.
On Thursday, Judge John Chmura of the 37th District Court in Warren, bound two of the defendants, Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin and Willie Reed, over for trial at the end of a lengthy preliminary hearing that started in January.
The third accused, Shawn Wilmoth, was bound over in April, according to court records.
During the initial hearing in January, veteran political consultant John Yob, who worked for the campaigns of former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and millionaire businessman Perry Johnson, testified: “I have never seen anything like this before.”
Shawn Wilmoth, Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin and Willie Reed now face multiple felonies for allegedly collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars before submitting tens of thousands of fake signatures.
