Shawn Wilmoth of Warren and Willie Reed of Pompano Beach, Florida, were convicted by a Macomb County jury for running a criminal enterprise that defrauded several Michigan gubernatorial and judicial campaigns during the 2022 election cycle. The announcement was made by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
The two defendants operated businesses contracted to collect nomination signatures for candidates including Ryan Kelley, Perry Johnson, James Craig, Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown, Michael Markey, Tricia Dare, John Cahalan, and John Michael Malone. According to prosecutors, the campaigns paid over $700,000 for valid signatures. Instead, Wilmoth and Reed delivered tens of thousands of forged signatures to eight campaigns. Seven candidates failed to qualify for the ballot due to insufficient valid signatures; one candidate withdrew before submitting signatures. The Kelley campaign received no signatures at all.
Attorney General Dana Nessel stated: “The fraud perpetrated by the defendants robbed eight candidates of their chance to appear on the ballot, defrauded their campaigns and denied millions of Michiganders a choice in the 2022 gubernatorial election. I am proud of the diligent work my office and the Department of State has done to secure this conviction. We will continue to investigate and prosecute instances of election fraud to protect our democratic process.”
Wilmoth was found guilty on multiple counts including conducting a criminal enterprise (20-year felony), false pretenses involving large sums (up to 20-year felonies), use of a computer to commit crimes (10-year felonies), and election law forgery (5-year felonies). Reed faced similar convictions along with larceny by conversion.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections detected the forged signatures quickly. The matter was referred from the Department of State to the Department of Attorney General in June 2022. Charges were filed against Wilmoth and Reed in September 2023.
A third defendant, Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin of Warren, was acquitted.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 18 before Judge James Maceroni in Macomb County’s 16th Circuit Court.
The Michigan Department of Attorney General operates statewide as Michigan’s chief legal office with authority across Michigan to protect residents through public service initiatives such as combating human trafficking and supporting vulnerable populations (official website). Under Dana Nessel’s leadership as Michigan’s 54th attorney general (official website), the department has also worked on policies like expungement opportunities through laws such as Clean Slate (official website). The office addresses key community needs by managing consumer complaints and issuing alerts about scams or data breaches (official website).
