Trial rescheduled for woman charged with election falsification

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The April trial for a Huron, Ohio, woman accused of election falsification has been postponed to June in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

Colleen Mann, 55, currently faces a charge of election falsification, a fifth-degree felony, to which she pleaded not guilty at her arraignment on Feb. 2 in Judge David Gormley’s court. Mann circulated referendum petitions in Delaware County last year related to a special taxing district in the May 2015 election.

At her arraignment, a trial date of April 21 was scheduled. However, Mann’s attorney, Brian G. Jones, was unable to attend the arraignment and was not present when the trial date was set. Jones filed a motion on April 1, asking Gormley to postpone the trial because Jones will be trying a case in Marion County.

Gormley granted the request for a continuance on April 4 and set a new trial for June 9.

A Delaware County grand jury returned the one-count indictment against Mann on Dec. 11.

She is accused of allowing Berkshire Township residents Jeremy Rito and Joyce Davis to sign petitions on behalf of their spouses in order to place a measure on last May’s ballot to give township residents an up or down vote on the creation of a Joint Economic Development District on the site of an outlet-store shopping mall which is now scheduled to open next month.

First assistant county prosecutor Kyle Rohrer said Dec. 11 that the law requires anyone circulating a petition to be present and to watch each time the petition is signed. Rohrer said Mann did not watch a number of signatures as they were signed.

The Ohio Revised Code states that potential penalties for fifth-degree felonies include between six and 12 months in prison and a fine not to exceed $2,500.

Questions over the validity of the signatures and whether Mann knowingly allowed Rito and Davis to sign on behalf of their spouses sparked a legal battle that made its way to the Ohio Supreme Court last year.

The Delaware County Board of Elections, which forwarded information to the sheriff’s office that led to an investigation of the petitions, invalidated two part-petitions based on the allegedly invalid signatures, putting the ballot measure five short of the 130 needed to be placed on the May 5 ballot.

However, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the elections board to recalculate the number of valid signatures, thus placing the issue on the May ballot.

The establishment of the Joint Economic Development District was upheld by an 80 to 20 percent margin by voters in the May election.

Ground was broken on the mall in late June 2015.

The Joint Economic Development District allows Berkshire Township to levy an income tax on the site of the outlet mall. The tax is administered by the city of Delaware.

Mann at her arraignment in February.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/05/web1_Mann.jpgMann at her arraignment in February. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

By Glenn Battishill

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Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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