D.A. Drops Voter Probe After Indictments Rejected

SANTA ANA — Following a yearlong investigation that failed to substantiate allegations of widespread voter fraud, Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi on Friday officially ended a controversial criminal probe into the registration of noncitizen voters.

After 300 interviews by 40 investigators who reviewed more than 33,000 documents, investigators found evidence that only two staff members of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a Latino rights organization, might have broken the law.

But when prosecutors presented that evidence to the Orange County Grand Jury, they could not convince 12 of the 19 grand jurors--the number needed to return an indictment--that a state election law had been violated.

“We presented all the evidence we had to the grand jury,” Capizzi said, “but for reasons known only to the grand jury, they decided not to indict.”

In the end, Capizzi said, of Orange County’s 1.3 million registered voters, the two Hermandad employees signed up 632 people who were not yet eligible to register to vote.

Of those, 364 of them actually voted in races throughout Orange County.

All but 115 of the 364 who voted became naturalized citizens before the November 1996 election. And many more have since become citizens.

The allegations drew national attention after Democrat Loretta Sanchez defeated Republican incumbent Rep. Robert K. Dornan of Garden Grove by 984 votes. Following Sanchez’s victory, Dornan complained that voter fraud contributed to his loss.

Prosecutors defended the probe.

“This was easily the most complete and objective investigation anyone could ask for,” said Loren Duchesne, chief of Capizzi’s bureau of investigations, “not something that anyone toyed around with on a political whim.”

The end result, he said, “doesn’t show a conspiracy to stuff the 46th Congressional election, or any other election for that matter.”

Capizzi said his office would take a look at any new evidence if it surfaced, but as a practical matter, the investigation is over. “We have examined all the evidence available to us at this point,” he said.

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Edward Munoz, attorney for Nativo Lopez, Hermandad’s executive director, said, “We’re elated. This means that a lot of people are going to get to sleep peacefully who haven’t in a long time.” Lopez could not be reached for comment.

For the past two weeks without success, Munoz said he pushed for a statement from Capizzi’s office clearing Hermandad. On Tuesday, Munoz filed a motion asking the grand jury to declare the outcome of its investigation, and indicate that Lopez had been called only as a witness, not as a target.

Friday morning, grand jury foreman James P. Kelly issued a two-paragraph statement saying that Lopez had been a witness and that charges had not been filed against two Hermandad employees, Lopez’s wife, Maria Rosa Ibarra, and Refugio Mejia. Both helped register noncitizens to vote, prosecutors alleged.

Lopez’s attorney said he had advised his client to insist on immunity--which Lopez was granted--before agreeing to testify. Capizzi said that because of grand jury secrecy requirements he could not comment on whether Lopez had been granted immunity, but he said no one who testified “is immune from prosecution if we receive new evidence.”

Investigators who conducted the massive probe described the effort as a detective’s nightmare.

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Most of the key witnesses--10 to 15 Hermandad staff members--would not agree to be interviewed. Many of those whose registrations were in question greeted investigators with printed cards invoking their 5th Amendment rights to self-incrimination. And the two officials targeted before the grand jury went to Mexico and declined numerous requests for interviews.

The case itself boiled down to records: voter registration records, citizenship records from seven databases of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and thousands of records seized from Hermandad offices, including the names of those who had attended citizenship classes.

But those records often didn’t match, were outdated or were simply inaccurate, said Dan Loughlin, the supervising investigator. So to help sort through the confusion, a special computer network was created to cross-reference names, information and documents.

California Secretary of State Bill Jones, whose staff participated in the investigation, said in a news release that he remained “appalled” that some noncitizens were registered to vote by Hermandad and that he was “puzzled” the grand jury chose not to issue indictments.

“Whether the district attorney is able to prove intent or not, the fact remains that hundreds of individuals are illegally registered to vote,” Jones said. “And that is unacceptable.”

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Capizzi said he would seek legislation to “make the registration and voting procedures less susceptible to fraud, abuse or other irregularities.” Jones said he would support reform legislation as well.

Rep. Sanchez said the investigation backed up what she’s said all along. “There wasn’t fraud. There wasn’t a conspiracy. And I would call on Mr. Dornan and the House Committee to drop it already.”

However, Sanchez said it was doubtful the House Oversight Committee would end its investigation. “They want to keep it alive as long as they can continue to make me spend money,” said Sanchez, who estimated she’s spent a half-million dollars on her defense so far.

“They knew there was nothing there from the beginning, but they decided to pick on a Latina and a woman because they thought I was vulnerable.”

William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), chairman of the House Oversight Committee still investigating the election fraud allegations, said in a statement, “Today’s announcement by [Capizzi’s office] confirms Congress’ concerns that illegal votes were cast and that noncitizens were registered to vote in Orange County.”

Dornan attorney Michael Schroeder, the state Republican Party chairman, said he continues to believe Hermandad was part of a conspiracy to steal the congressional seat.

“What [Capizzi] says was there were hundreds of people who voted illegally but he’s not going to charge them because they didn’t know it was illegal. They were duped into it,” he said. “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.”

A month before the Sanchez-Dornan election, five voters told Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever that they had attended citizenship classes at Hermandad and been registered to vote before they had been sworn in. Lever referred the matter to Capizzi’s office.

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Hermandad, like dozens of other nonprofit organizations around the country, had been designated by the INS to conduct citizenship classes. After the applicants completed the course, Hermandad would arrange for large groups of them to receive INS citizenship interviews on the spot.

Those who successfully completed the INS citizenship interview--and investigators said virtually all of them did--were escorted to tables and asked to sign voter registration cards.

“Most of these people were euphoric at this point,” said Bruce Moore, the deputy district attorney who helped present the case to the grand jury. “There was also a lot of confusion.”

For one thing, those exiting the INS interviews carried letters from the agency that began, “Congratulations, your application [for citizenship] has been approved” even though the actual swearing-in ceremonies wouldn’t take place for another 45 to 90 days.

Many people misinterpreted that as proof of citizenship and signed voter registration cards at the suggestion of Hermandad staff members Mejia and Ibarra.

When they reached the tables, said investigator Ed Contreras, the applicants were told to sign their names and that once they had been sworn in the other information would be filled out.

In doing that, prosecutors believed Mejia and Ibarra violated a section of the California Elections Code punishable by up to 16 months to three years in prison, even though the vast majority of those registered in this way became citizens before the election.

By the time investigators had finished interviewing those who attended Hermandad’s citizenship classes, Contreras said, it was clear that most of the applicants had been living and working in the United States for years.

Moore said he pulled cases from the pile and found that they had lived and worked in the U.S. legally from nine to 27 years, and the average length was 17 years.

“These were not people who had just been pulled off the street,” Contreras said. “They were the very best candidates for citizenship.”