Prosecutor: 3 people, including nun, face voter fraud charges in southwest Ohio

CINCINNATI - Within a short time after reporting she would plead guilty to a voter fraud charge, Sister Marguerite Kloos resigned as Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities at the College of Mount Saint Joseph.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters on Monday announced Kloos' cooperation, along with indictments on additional voter fraud charges against Russell Glassop and Melowese Richardson, stemming from the 2012 Presidential election.

Kloos' charge results from forging a signature and submitting an absentee ballot for a fellow nun who died, according to the prosecutor's office.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Glassop on one charge of illegal voting and Richardson on eight counts of illegal voting.

Glassop is accused of submitting his wife’s absentee ballot after she passed away.

Glassop and Kloos face 18 months in jail if convicted.

"Both of those are very sad cases," said Tim Burke with the Hamilton County Board of Elections. "There's no doubt that these individuals had the mistaken belief that they could honor their late loved one by voting for them the way they would have voted, or at least the way they believed they would have voted. But you can't do that. It's just wrong."

Richardson could spend 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Richardson is accused of voting twice on her own behalf and then voting for others in the same election.

“Elections are a serious business and the foundation of our democracy,” Deters said in a news release. “In the scheme of things, individual votes may not seem important but this could not be further from the truth.  Every vote is important and every voter and candidate needs to have faith in our system.  The charges today should let people know that we take this seriously. This is not North Korea.”

Three additional cases of voter fraud are under investigation by the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.