19 aliens charged with voter fraud in North Carolina following ICE investigation

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Nineteen foreign nationals face federal charges in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina for illegally voting in the 2016 federal elections, according to federal charges publicly announced on Wednesday. These charges are the latest indictments to result from an ongoing years-long federal criminal investigation being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Raleigh office.

A federal grand jury in Wilmington charged seven foreign nationals on August 31 on federal felony charges including falsely claiming U.S. citizenship or making false statements on voter registration application, and with misdemeanor charges of unlawfully casting ballots in the 2016 presidential election. Non-citizens are not eligible to register to vote or to vote in federal elections under U.S. law.

• Francisco Antonio-Aguirre, age 64, Guatemala
• Roob Kaur Atar-Singh, age 57, Malaysia
• Rosalva Negrete-Toledo, aka Rosalva Cortes, age 65, Mexico
• Dave Delano Virgil, age 57, Tobago
• Eloy Alberto Zayas-Berrier, age 70, Cuba
• Emmanuel Olakunle Atoyebi, age 31, Nigeria
• Mokhtar Qaid Ahmed Gulaimid, age 48, Yemen

If convicted, these individuals face maximum penalties of six years in federal prison, a $350,000 fine, and a term of supervised release.

An additional 12 foreign nationals were charged in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on August 13 with misdemeanor charges for unlawfully casting ballots in the 2016 presidential election.

• Ismay Prudence Kathleen James, age 54, Bermuda
• Donald Christian Martyn, age 44, Sierra Leone
• Chaim Pinto, age 68, Israel
• John Andrew Rapsky, age 54, Canada
• Baijoo Pottakulath Thomas, age 58, India
• Shuqin Yin, age 54, China
• Chirong Yin Billings, aka Chirong Cummings, age 56, China
• Henry Alberto Araya-Vega, age 52, Costa Rica
• Rufina Concho-Locklear, age 82, Mexico
• Alberto Damaize-Job, aka Alberto Damaize, age 73, Nicaragua
• Armando Nava-Juarez, aka Armando Nava, age 51, Mexico
• Manuel Efrain Valladares, age 48, El Salvador

If convicted, these individuals face a maximum term of one-year imprisonment, a fine not to exceed $100,000, or both.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictments are merely accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being prosecuted federally by the office of United States Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin for the Middle District of North Carolina.

These most-recent indictments stem from an ongoing HSI investigation that previously resulted in separate indictments in the Eastern District of North Carolina in August 2018.