Nebraska notary public charged in fraudulent petition signature probe

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Prosecutors charged another person on Wednesday in an investigation into fraudulent petition signatures.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Hall County Attorney Marty Klein announced 24 charges of official misconduct against a notary public.

They say Jacy Todd of York notarized pages of medical marijuana petitions without being in the presence of petition circulators.

Prosecutors said that violates Nebraska law.

“Notaries are officers of the public and held to a higher standard of trust and honest,” Hilgers said in a press release. “Here, our investigation uncovered a significant abuse of the notary process and the false representations that petitions were properly notarized when, in fact, they were not.”

SEE ALSO: Nebraska judge dismisses 2 challenges to medical marijuana petitions, lets 2 others stand

One of the circulators whose petition pages were notarized by Todd was Michael Egbert.

He was charged last month with false swearing to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition.

Authorities said he turned in dozens of petition pages with fraudulent signatures.

SEE ALSO: Nebraska AG: Investigators find fraudulent signatures on medical marijuana petitions

The Attorney General’s Office said its investigation is not limited to Hall County.

“Our investigation is ongoing, and we will work with our local law enforcement partners to hold those who would interfere with our elections accountable under the law,” Hilgers said.

Both medical marijuana petitions have been certified to appear on the November ballot.

But Secretary of State Bob Evnen said they could be removed, depending on the results of the attorney general’s investigation.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the sponsor of the petitions, said it is “confident it satisfied all constitutional and statutory requirements for placement on the ballot.”