5/29/13 - A Livingston County woman who served as a congressional staffer has entered a plea to fraud charges concerning nominating petitions. 59-year-old Mary Melissa Turnbull of Iosco Township pleaded no contest to committing fraud on the nominating petitions of Livonia Republican Thaddeus McCotter in a case that knocked him off the ballot. Turnbull entered the plea Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac. She faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced July 9th. McCotter was disqualified from the 2012 congressional primary after the Secretary of Stateâs office said he lacked the 1,000 valid signatures. He resigned last July, rather than serve the remainder of his term. Authorities say Turnbull and other McCotter aides forged signatures, cut and pasted signatures from other petitions and had people falsely sign statements that they circulated the petitions. Another former staffer, Lorianne OâBrady of Livonia, previously pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of falsely signing a nomination petition as a circulator and was sentenced to 20 days in a work-release program. Two other staffers, Paul Seewald and Don Yowchaung, earlier had charges of conspiracy to commit a legal act in an illegal manner dropped by a Wayne County judge. However, that decision is being appealed by the Michigan attorney generalâs office. (JK)
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