Leslie McCrae Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th District election fraud case, has been indicted on charges related to collecting absentee ballots in the 2018 and 2016 elections.
Dowless has been arrested, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Wednesday. He faces three felony charges of obstruction of justice, two charges of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and two charges of possession of absentee ballot.
The indictment said Dowless’s actions “served to undermine the integrity of the absentee ballot process and the public’s confidence in the outcome of the electoral process.”
The charges represent the first criminal prosecution in the Congressional absentee ballot fraud case that rocked the 9th District and resulted in the first new election ordered for fraud in North Carolina history.