A former Carrollton Democrat mayoral candidate, Zul Mirza Mohamed, was indicted last week and formally charged on 109 felony charges related to voter fraud.
The Denton County Sheriff’s Office last October arrested and charged Zul Mirza Mohamed on 25 counts of unlawful possession of a ballot/ballot envelope without request of the voter and 84 counts of fraudulent use of a mail ballot application. The charges are second- and third-degree felonies, according to Texas election laws.
The Denton County Elections Office notified the Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 23, 2020, of possible fraud involving absentee ballot applications. Documents showed 11 duplicate mail-in ballot requests sent to the elections office, arousing their interest. The investigation discovered the PO Box had been obtained with a false Texas driver’s license and a fictitious University of North Texas student ID.
To find out who was behind the voter fraud ballot scheme, officials began surveillance of the postal facility where the mailbox was located.
A box of the requested ballots was picked up at the location on October 7, 2020, and investigators followed the person, later identified as Mohamed, back to a home in the 1600 block of Bennington Drive in Carrollton. They then contacted a judge to get a search warrant for the house.
Once inside, deputies found the box containing the requested ballots, with several of them open. The fraudulent driver’s license used to rent the P.O. Box was also located during the search.
Sheriff Tracy Murphree stated, “The fact an actual candidate for public office would engage in these activities is appalling.”
At the time Mohamed was a candidate for mayor in the city of Carrollton, Texas, and was arrested and taken to the Denton County Jail.
Each second-degree felony charge Mohamed faces is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Each third-degree felony charge is punishable up to a 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $10,000.