RALLY, North Carolina (AP) – Leslie McCray Dowles Jr., a key player in the North Carolina absentee ballot fraud investigation that led to a failed congressional election, has died.
His daughter, Andrea Dowles Heverley, wrote that her father “died peacefully” on Sunday morning, according to a social media post. He was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and died at his daughter’s home in Blaiden County, his friend Jay Delancy told the Associated Press in a brief interview. Dowles was in his mid-60s.
The political operative was to be tried this summer on more than a dozen state charges related to absentee voting activities for the 2016 general elections and the 2018 primary and general elections. Another half a dozen were also charged.
Witnesses told government officials that Dowles, with the help of his aides, collected hundreds of absent ballots from Bledon County in 2018. These workers testified that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, falsify signatures on them and even fill in votes. for local candidates.
The results of the general elections for the 9th Congressional District for 2018 were eventually discarded and a new vote for the seat was ordered by the State Electoral Council upon request.
Dowles ran in the 2018 congressional race for then-Republican nominee Mark Harris. No charges have been filed against Harris, who is not running in the next election.
Dowles was later charged with charges related to the 2016 election and the 2018 primary.
Dowles’ health became a problem until he was sentenced to six months in prison for federal crimes, including fraud with compensation, which was indirectly related to the wider state inspection.
A federal judge delayed Dawles’s December 1 reporting date to April 1 after his lawyer said Dawles had a stroke in August and learned in the fall about a potential cancer diagnosis.
Dowles’s federal lawyer filed another request in March that she asked to be sealed “due to the inclusion of sensitive health information.” The Federal Bureau of Prisons has never reported that Dowles is in custody.
Dowles state and federal prosecutors did not respond immediately to emails Sunday seeking comment. But with Dawles’ death, the case of absentee voting against him is already controversial.
Wake County Attorney Lorin Freeman said the legal delays caused by COVID-19 had contributed to Dawles’ inability to stand trial earlier.
While expressing condolences to the Dowles family, Freeman said Sunday that her office would continue to prosecute other defendants, although Dowles was seen as chief of the investigation.
“All other cases are to some extent derived from what the state considers its master plan and coordination,” Freeman told the AP. She said each case would be evaluated before deciding how to proceed.
Dowles refused to accept a plea agreement on state charges in November. Charges against him include obstruction of justice, possession of absentee ballots and perjury.
Delancy, who met with Dowles last week, said Dowles “wants a chance to defend himself against state allegations” and rejected a plea deal “in hopes of being given a day in court.”
Dowles was “a man who quickly trusted and even loved others through his actions in the service,” Delancy said in a text message.
Dowles pleaded guilty last June in federal court to receiving illegal social security benefits while evading payments for the political work he does.
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This story has been corrected to show that Dowles rejected a plea agreement in November 2021, not this summer.
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