A local elections official reported a man from India who applied to vote in Sumter County resulting in the man’s arrest on a voter fraud charge.
Anilkumar Patel, 59, who lives in the Triumph development in Wildwood, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging him with voter fraud.
Patel apparently applied for voter registration with the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections Office. He later used the voter registration card when he went to apply for a driver’s license at the Sumter County Tax Collector’s Office. The tax collector’s office sent a copy of Patel’s permanent resident card to the elections office, prompting Supervisor of Elections Bill Keen to launch the investigation.
The local complaint was forwarded to the general counsel for the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee.
Patel is facing a felony charge of fraud. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $2,500 bond.
There have been a number of voter fraud cases in Sumter County:
• In January, 33-year old Stevie Taylor Elizabeth Baker of Wildwood pleaded no contest to a charge of voter fraud. She was placed on probation for one year and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.
• A number of Villagers were charged with casting more than one ballot in the 2020 election, but all escaped with light sentences, which consisted primarily of civics classes. Villagers who were arrested were Joan Marie Halstead, Jay Richard Ketcik, Charles Franklin Barnes and John Rider.