A local activist who admitted to breaking election laws was sentenced Wednesday morning.
Rus Thompson is sentenced to three years probation and a $250 fine after voting in a town in which he no longer lived.
Rus Thompson appears in court today. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/TO7nxCHR3Z
— David Morales (@PhotogWKBW) May 3, 2017
Tom Eoannou, Thompson's Lawyer, reacts to the three years probation Rus received today. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/6GOgYkGXGD
— David Morales (@PhotogWKBW) May 3, 2017
Thompson originally had felony charges against him which were dropped once he admitted to the election law violations. His sentencing is a result of a misdemeanor charge of offering a false instrument for filing.
According to the Erie County District Attorney's Office, Thompson registered to vote in September 2015 for the primary election on Grand Island by affidavit vote, even though he had moved to Niagara Falls the year before. This resulted in illegal voting on Grand Island in the 2015 primary, the 2015 general election and the Presidential primary in April 2016, according to prosecutors.
Thompson previously claimed the charges stemmed from a political witch hunt to get him off of Grand Island.
