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Lancaster County DA investigating attempted fraudulent voter registration applications • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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Lancaster County DA investigating attempted fraudulent voter registration applications • Pennsylvania Capital-Star


Lancaster County officials said Friday that election workers prevented an attempt to submit fraudulent voter registration applications that were turned in at the county Board of Elections office shortly before the deadline Monday.

District Attorney Heather Adams said her office is investigating but declined to provide many details, saying that the investigation is ongoing and that the number of applications suspected of containing false or inaccurate information is still being determined. Adams said county detectives have been in contact with at least two other counties where similar applications are being investigated.

“We understand that there’s similar … registration applications that have been received. But beyond that, I am not commenting on where this is leading at this point,” Adams said.

The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections at the state level, said in a statement that it is aware of the fraud allegations raised by Lancaster County officials and is offering support for the investigation.

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“The Department applauds the efforts of the election staff for their diligent work in spotting this potential fraud and bringing it to the attention of law enforcement. The Department guidance in cases like this is for counties to immediately contact law enforcement, which is exactly what Lancaster County officials did,” the statement said.

The applications in question were delivered to the Lancaster County elections office in a batch of about 2,500 and were flagged by workers there who noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting and were filled out on the same day. Some of the applications were for previously registered voters and the signatures on the documents did not match those the county has on file, Adams said. 

Lancaster County detectives began investigating and found applications with incorrect addresses, fake names, false personal identifying information and names that did not match the Social Security numbers provided, Adams said. 

In some cases, applications contained correct personal identification information, such as the correct address, correct phone number, date of birth, driver’s license number and Social Security number, but the individuals listed on the applications informed detectives that they did not request the form, they did not complete the form and verified that the signature on the form was not theirs,” Adams said in a news conference Friday morning in Lancaster.

“At this point, it is believed that the fraudulent voter registrations are connected to large-scale canvassing operations for voter registrations that date back to June,” Adams said, adding that the majority of the applications in question are dated Aug. 15 and later.

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While some of the applications in the batch of 2,500 were determined to be legitimate, Adams said the district attorney’s office investigation so far has determined that about 60% are fraudulent. 

“We do have more to do today, and my understanding is that voter registration is still going through the box of 2,500 but should be completed sometime here today,” Adams, a Republican elected in 2019, said.

Forgery of a registration application is a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. Violations of the Election Code carry penalties including a 10-year suspension of the right to vote, Adams said.

Democratic Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder urged residents not to be deterred from voting, saying that all registration applications aside from those identified as fraudulent will be processed and entered into the Pennsylvania Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors.

The county had 365,210 registered voters at the close of business on Thursday, a record surpassing that set in 2020 by about 11,000.

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The investigation follows scrutiny from voting rights groups, the Pennsylvania Department of State, and local media after the Lancaster County elections office rejected voter registration applications from college students because they were registered in another state or did not have a Pennsylvania driver’s license. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said the county violated federal law by removing the registration of one student because it happened within 90 days before the election.

Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt sent a letter to the Lancaster County commissioners informing them that county officials had incorrectly claimed that people qualified to vote in the county could not register until they had canceled their registration in another state. Anyone who is at least 18 years old, has been a citizen for at least a month and has lived in the district where they intend to vote for 30 days may register to vote in Pennsylvania, Schmidt said.

“Students attending a college or university in Pennsylvania are permitted to register in Pennsylvania if these criteria are met,” Schmidt said.

Republican Commissioner Josh Parsons accused Schmidt and media outlets of attacking election workers with “absurd” false allegations.

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“We quickly debunked these allegations, both in public meetings and in communicating with the Department of State. All three commissioners are in unanimous and bipartisan agreement that our staff has acted properly,” Parsons said.

“Our staff adhere strictly to the law. They make sure that every legal voter can vote, but they do not cut corners on election security,” he said.

Officials urged residents who have questions or concerns that their personal information may have been misused to contact the Lancaster County district attorney’s office and check their voter registration on the Department of State website.

“As the county’s efforts show, multiple safeguards exist to ensure the integrity of our elections, and Pennsylvanians can have confidence that this November’s election will be safe, secure, free, and fair,” the Department of State said in its statement.

Lancaster County, in the south central part of Pennsylvania, has been a historically Republican stronghold, with former President Donald Trump carrying the county by 20 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and by 16 points over President Joe Biden in 2020. With Lancaster city at its heart, Democrats have made inroads in recent years capturing two state House seats and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro losing the county by only 1 point in his successful 2022 campaign.

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Pennsylvania Shooting Latest in Violence Against Hospital Workers

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Pennsylvania Shooting Latest in Violence Against Hospital Workers


A man who took hostages in a Pennsylvania hospital during a shooting that killed a police officer and wounded five other people highlights the rising violence against U.S. healthcare workers and the challenge of protecting them.

Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, carried a pistol and zip ties into the intensive care unit at UPMC Memorial Hospital in southern Pennsylvania’s York County and took staff members hostage Saturday before he was killed in a shootout with police, officials said. The attack also left a doctor, nurse, custodian and two other officers wounded.

Officers opened fire as Archangel-Ortiz held at gunpoint a female staff member whose hands had been zip-tied, police said.

The man apparently intentionally targeted the hospital after he was in contact with the intensive care unit earlier in the week for medical care involving someone else, according to the York County district attorney.

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Such violence at hospitals is on the rise, often in emergency departments but also maternity wards and intensive care units, hospital security consultant Dick Sem said.

“Many people are more confrontational, quicker to become angry, quicker to become threatening,” Sem said. “I interview thousands of nurses and hear all the time about how they’re being abused every day.”

Archangel-Ortiz’s motives remained unclear but nurses report increasing harassment from the public, especially following the coronavirus pandemic, said Sem, former director of security and crisis management for Waste Management and vice president at Pinkerton/Securitas.

In hospital attacks, unlike random mass shootings elsewhere, the shooter is often targeting somebody, sometimes resentful about the care given a relative who died, Sem noted.

“It tends to be someone who’s mad at somebody,” Sem said. “It might be a domestic violence situation or employees, ex-employees. There’s all kinds of variables.”

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At WellSpan Health, a nearby hospital where some of the victims were taken, Megan Foltz said she has been worried about violence since she began working as a nurse nearly 20 years ago.

“In the critical care environment, of course there’s going to be heightened emotions. People are losing loved ones. There can be gang violence, domestic violence. Inebriated individuals,” Foltz said.

Besides the fear of being hurt themselves, nurses fear leaving their patients unguarded.

“If you step away from a bedside to run, to hide, to keep safe, you’re leaving your patient vulnerable,” she said.

Healthcare and social assistance employees suffered almost three-quarters of nonfatal attacks on workers in the private sector in 2021 and 2022 for a rate more than five times the national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Other recent attacks on U.S. healthcare workers include:

  • Last year, a man shot two corrections officers in the ambulance bay of an Idaho hospital while freeing a white supremacist gang member before he could be returned to prison. They were caught less than two days later.
  • In 2023, a gunman killed a security guard and wounded a hospital worker in a Portland, Oregon, hospital’s maternity unit before being killed by police in a confrontation elsewhere. Also in 2023, a man opened fire in a medical center waiting room in Atlanta, killing one woman and wounding four.
  • In 2022, a gunman killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical office because he blamed the doctor for his continuing pain after an operation. Later that year, a man killed two workers at a Dallas hospital while there to watch his child’s birth.

The shooting is part of a wave of gun violence in recent years that has swept through U.S. hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats.

With rising violence, more hospitals are using metal detectors and screening visitors for threats at hospital entrances including emergency departments.

Many hospital workers say after an attack that they never expected to be targeted.

Sem said training can be critical in helping medical staff identify those who might become violent.

“More than half of these incidents I’m aware of showed some early warning signs from early indicators that this person is problematic. They’re threatening, they’re angry. And so that needs to be reported. That needs to be managed,” he said.

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“If nobody reports it, then you don’t know until the gun appears.”

—Associated Press writer Chris Weber contributed to this report from Los Angeles.



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Police officer and suspect who took hostages at Pennsylvania hospital killed in shootout

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Police officer and suspect who took hostages at Pennsylvania hospital killed in shootout


A man armed with a pistol and carrying zip ties entered a Pennsylvania hospital’s intensive care unit Saturday and took staff members hostage before he was killed by police in a shootout that also left an officer dead, authorities said.

Three workers at UPMC Memorial hospital, including a doctor, a nurse and a custodian, and two other officers were shot and wounded in the attack, York county district attorney Tim Barker said. A fourth staffer was injured in a fall.

Gunfire erupted after officers went to engage the shooter, whom Barker identified as Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49. He said Archangel-Ortiz was holding at gunpoint a female staff member who had her hands bound with zip ties when police opened fire.

“This is a huge loss to our community,” Barker said at a news conference following the shooting. “It is absolutely clear, and beyond any and all doubt, that the officers were justified in taking their action using deadly force.”

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Barker added that while the investigation is in its early stages, it appears Archangel-Ortiz had previous contact with the hospital’s ICU earlier in the week for “a medical purpose involving another individual” – and he intentionally targeted the workers there.

No one answered the door on Saturday at an address in York believed to be that of Archangel-Ortiz.

The officer who died was identified as Andrew Duarte of the West York borough police department.

“We all have broken hearts and are grieving at his loss,” West York borough manager Shawn Mauck told the Associated Press.

Duarte was a law enforcement veteran who joined the department in 2022 after five years with the Denver Police Department, according to his LinkedIn profile. He described receiving a “hero award” in 2021 from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his work in impaired driving enforcement for the state of Colorado.

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“I have a type A personality and like to succeed in all that I do,” his LinkedIn profile said.

Duarte also worked as a patrol officer in Denver, was highly regarded for his work and was close friends with other officers, the department there said in a statement.

The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, said he met on Saturday evening with Duarte’s parents and fellow officers who were wounded.

“Their willingness to run toward danger helped save the lives of others,” Shapiro said on the social platform X. “I’m grateful to them and all law enforcement who answered the call today in York.”

At a makeshift memorial on the front steps of the West York Borough Police Department, Linda Shields dropped off roses Saturday and dabbed tears as she thought of her son, a police officer in Maryland.

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“He was so young,” Shields said of Duarte. “It makes no sense at all.”

Shapiro called the attack on police and health care workers “the act of a coward”.

UPMC Memorial is a five-story, 104-bed hospital that opened in 2019 in York, a city of about 40,000 people known for its creation of York Peppermint Patties in 1940.

Saturday’s attack was one of more than 35 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan resource which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are wounded or killed.

The perennially high numbers of mass shootings in the US have prompted many in the country to call for more substantial gun control, though Congress has been mostly unwilling or unable to enact such measures.

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The attack on Saturday was also part of a wave of gun violence in recent years that has swept through US hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have helped make healthcare one of the nation’s most violent fields, with workers suffering more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2023, a shooter killed a security guard in the lobby of New Hampshire’s state psychiatric hospital before being fatally shot by a state trooper. An Oregon hospital security guard was shot to death while protecting a maternity ward from an attacker that year, too.

In 2022, a man killed two workers at a Dallas hospital while there to watch his child’s birth. In May of that year, a man opened fire in a medical center waiting room in Atlanta, killing one woman and wounding four. And just one month later, a gunman killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical office because he blamed the doctor for his continuing pain after an operation.



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Gunman killed after shots fired at Pennsylvania hospital

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Gunman killed after shots fired at Pennsylvania hospital


A gunman has been killed after shots were fired on Saturday at a hospital in central Pennsylvania, officials said.

Officials at UPMC memorial in York said that no patients had been injured and that the gunman was dead. The extent of any other injuries was unclear.

Law enforcement were on the premises and managing the situation, Susan Manko, vice-president of public relations for UPMC, said in an emailed statement.

The hospital asked employees who had not been scheduled to work Saturday to stay home, in a statement on its website.

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Families of patients arriving on site should report to the parking lot of the OSS building across the street from the hospital, Manko said.

The Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, said in a social media post he is on the way to the hospital after being briefed on the shooting. He said the hospital is “secure”.

UPMC Memorial is a five-story, 104-bed hospital that opened in 2019 in York, a city of about 40,000 people known for its creation of York Peppermint Patties in 1940.

The shooting is part of a wave of gun violence in recent years that has swept through US hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adapt to the growing threats. Such attacks have helped make healthcare one of the nation’s most violent fields, with workers suffering more non-fatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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In 2023, a shooter killed a security guard in the lobby of New Hampshire’s state psychiatric hospital before being fatally shot by a state trooper. In 2022, a man killed two workers at a Dallas hospital while there to watch his child’s birth. In May of that year, a man opened fire in a medical center waiting room in Atlanta, killing one woman and wounding four. Just one month later, a gunman killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical office because he blamed the doctor for his continuing pain after an operation.



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