A jury convicted an Allegheny County man of forging signatures on nomination petitions for a U.S. Congressional candidate before the 2022 primary election.
After a weeklong trial, Kirk Rice was found guilty on Friday morning of theft by deception, forgery, perjury and related charges, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
“This defendant deliberately undermined the integrity of Pennsylvania’s election process by falsifying signatures for financial gain,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said. “This type of conduct is taken very seriously as it threatens the foundation of our democracy. I applaud the agents and prosecutors whose work exposed the depths to this fraud and ultimately brought the offender to justice.”
Prosecutors claim Rice was paid $1,340 for collecting 437 signatures for Democratic candidate Steve Irwin’s nomination. Rice submitted 34 pages of signatures and was paid for each one he received.
However, Irwin’s campaign learned that Rice allegedly falsified the signatures, including one supposedly by U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon.
Dozens of alleged signers reported never signing the petition, the AG’s office says.
The investigation showed that Rice admitted to not going door-to-door. Instead, he went into Pittsburgh businesses and got people to sign the petition without checking whether they were Democrats.
Rice’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 17.
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