Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania voter fraud investigation into “overabundance” of applications

Published

1 year ago

October 29, 2024

Pennsylvania voter fraud investigation into “overabundance” of applications

York County in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania is looking into an “overabundance” of voter registration forms and requests for mail ballots that were sent to the elections office after another county received thousands of voter registration forms that were flagged for potential fraud.

The York County elections office received a “large delivery containing thousands of election-related materials from a third-party organization,” including voter registration forms and mail-ballot applications, York County president commissioner Julie Wheeler said in a statement to the York Daily Record.

“As with all submissions, our staff follows a process for ensuring all voter registrations and mail-in ballot requests are legal. That process is currently underway. If suspected fraud is identified, we will alert the District Attorney’s Office, which will then conduct an investigation.”

Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground in next week’s election, and both Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are seeking the state’s 19 electoral votes in what polls indicate is an extremely close contest.

Wheeler told Fox 43 on Monday: “It’s not unusual to get large stacks of voter registrations or large stacks of requests for mail-in ballots, it’s just this was an overabundance of registrations from one particular organization.”

She added: “We need to do our homework before we go and make accusations when we don’t have the data to back it up.”

Wheeler has been contacted for further comment via email.

A person drops off a mail-in ballot on October 15, 2024, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Officials in York County in Pennsylvania are looking into potential fraud following a large delivery of election-related mail.

Hannah Beier/Getty Images

Wheeler’s comments come as an investigation is underway in Lancaster County, where officials said fraudulent voter registrations had been found among 2,500 forms that arrived at the county elections office shortly before Pennsylvania’s October 21 deadline to register to vote.

Election workers had “noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting, were filled out on the same day with unknown signature, and some were previously registered voters (…) and the signatures on file did not match the signatures on the application,” Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams, an elected Republican, said at a news conference on Friday.

About 60 percent of the applications that have been investigated so far have been identified as fraudulent, Adams said, though she did not disclose the total number of applications that have been investigated fully. Her office has been contacted for comment via email.

Adams said issues with the applications included false names, false personal identification information and inaccurate addresses.

“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,” she said. “They did not complete the form and verified that the signature on the form was not theirs.”

She said it is believed that the fraudulent registrations are connected to a “large-scale canvassing operation” dating back to June. However, she said most of the applications date from August 15 and a majority were from residents in Lancaster.

It “appears to be an organized effort at this point,” Adams said, but noted the investigation is ongoing. “We’ll be looking into who exactly participated in it and how far up it goes,” she said.

Adams said two other counties, which she did not name, had received similar applications that are under investigation.

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Pennsylvania

Bill would create alert when children with autism go missing in Pennsylvania

Published

9 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Bill would create alert when children with autism go missing in Pennsylvania

(WHTM) — Legislation is in the works for a statewide warning system to locate missing children with autism.

State Rep. Robert Leadbeter (R-Columbia County) announced the formal introduction of a bill to create a “Purple Alert” system. It would quickly notify police and community members when a child with autism, or other cognitive issues, is missing.

His bill is called “Aiden’s Law,” named for a young boy in Columbia County, who disappeared earlier this year and drowned in the Susquehanna River. Leadbeter said a “Purple Alert” system would fill a gap in Pennsylvania.

“So, individuals with cognitive disabilities are able to then, if they go missing, have an alert go out to law enforcement organizations that work directly with them and that’ll save time expand resources, and ideally result in a safe return home for the missing individual,” Leadbeter said.

In this bill, the system would mirror others like Amber Alerts for missing children in danger and Silver Alerts for missing seniors.

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Pennsylvania

Bethlehem man sentenced under Pennsylvania’s new AI child porn law

Published

21 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Bethlehem man sentenced under Pennsylvania’s new AI child porn law

A Bethlehem man is among the first to be sentenced under a Pennsylvania law passed last year, making it a crime to possess AI-generated child sex abuse material.

On Monday, Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kristie M. Marks sentenced 35-year-old Adam Erdman to two years, four months to 10 years.

Erdman in September pleaded guilty to felony possessing child sex abuse material. He faced a possible sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced the sentencing in a news conference Monday afternoon. The DA credited U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who introduced the new legislation and state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, who championed the final version of the law last year.

“Before this law was passed, the use of AI to generate child sexual abuse materials went unpunished,” Holihan said. “Prosecutors like me need legislation like this to arrest and convict the criminals who use evolving technology to victimize others.”

Macungie-based attorney Michael Ira Stump, representing Erdman, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning.

Bethlehem police on March 31 were called by Erdman’s estranged wife, who reported finding three AI-generated nude images of juvenile girls on his personal computer.

Prosecutors said Erdman downloaded photos of the children on vacation from their parent’s social media account, and then used artificial intelligence photo-editing software to make the children appear naked.

Erdman was charged on April 17.

The case was investigated by Bethlehem Police Det. Stephen Ewald and was prosecuted by Lehigh County Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah K. Heimbach.

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Pennsylvania

Central Pennsylvania awarded over $1M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed conservation

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Pennsylvania awarded over M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed conservation

PENNSYLVANIA (WTAJ) — Over $17 million has been awarded to county teams across the Commonwealth for projects in reducing nutrient and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Grants were awarded to counties with projects taking place over the next 12 to 24 months. Many different human activities cause nutrient pollution and eroded sediment to enter streams, rivers, and lakes. This pollution can come from fertilizer, plowing and tilling farm fields and can cause stripping away of trees and vegetation, and increasing paved surfaces.

Here are the grants awarded in our area:

Blair County Conservation District: $308,095
Cambria County Conservation District: $200,000
Centre County Government: $566,399
Clearfield County Conservation District: $368,209
Huntingdon County Conservation District: $409,134

“Pennsylvania’s clean water successes are rooted in collaboration—state, local, federal, legislative, and non-governmental partners, and of course landowners,” Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley said. “The work will continue to evolve, and our focus will remain on setting our collaborative partnerships up for success well beyond 2025. The momentum is real, and you can see it in our improved water quality.”

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In total, 222 projects were approved, and it’s estimated to reduce nitrogen by 113,493 pounds/year, phosphorus by 28,816 pounds/year, and sediment delivered to the Chesapeake Bay by 1.8 million pounds/year.

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