Willie Reed of Pompano Beach was sentenced to 24 months to 240 months in prison after a Macomb County jury convicted him of defrauding four Michigan gubernatorial candidates in a 2022 election fraud scheme. Reed was ordered to pay $333,817 in restitution to victims James Craig, Perry Johnson, Michael Markey, and Ryan Kelley. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the sentencing, which concluded a case involving tens of thousands of forged nomination signatures.
“The actions of the defendants deliberately undermined our electoral process and denied voters their choices in our primary,” Nessel said. Reed charged the campaigns around $350,000 for valid signature collection but instead delivered tens of thousands of forged signatures on nomination petitions. The Michigan Bureau of Elections detected the forgeries and referred the matter to the Department of Attorney General for investigation in June 2022.
“I hope this outcome serves as a deterrent to others who attempt to subvert our system,” Nessel said. Reed operated the scheme alongside co-defendant Shawn Wilmoth of Warren, who was sentenced earlier this month to 4 to 20 years in prison. Wilmoth was ordered to pay $376,601 in restitution to the victims. Both men were charged in September 2023.
The Macomb County jury convicted Reed of one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, two counts of false pretenses involving $100,000 or more, and one count of false pretenses involving $50,000 to $100,000. Additional convictions included three counts of using a computer to commit a crime involving $20,000 or more, one count of using a computer to commit a crime involving $1,000 to $20,000, and one count of larceny by conversion involving $1,000 to $20,000. Reed also faced three counts of election law forgery.
The gubernatorial candidates contracted with businesses owned and operated by Reed and Wilmoth for fulfillment of their nomination signature requirements to appear on the primary ballots for the 2022 election. The campaigns paid Reed’s business nearly $350,000 for the signature collection work. Instead of delivering valid signatures as promised, Reed knowingly submitted tens of thousands of forged ones to the campaigns.
Judge James Maceroni presided over the sentencing in Macomb County’s 16th Circuit Court. The Michigan Bureau of Elections caught the forgeries quickly after the petitions were submitted. The Department of State referred the case to Nessel’s office for investigation in June 2022, leading to the charges filed against both defendants in September 2023.