Key figure in NC election investigation sentenced to prison for benefits fraud

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A key player in a North Carolina voter fraud investigation that led to new congressional elections was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison for obtaining illegal Social Security benefits while concealing payments for the political work he was doing.

Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., 65, of Bladenboro, pleaded guilty to two counts in June, the day his federal trial was supposed to begin. He faces a combined maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for his crimes of theft of public property and social security fraud.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle also told Dowless he must pay $8,600 in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Raleigh, which prosecuted Dowless.

Dowless' sentencing was delayed last week because he was hospitalized that day, an attorney said. Dowless attended the sentencing Thursday in Greenville.

The federal case was indirectly linked to the election investigation by the State Board of Elections and local prosecutors. Dowless and others still face state charges related to voting in the 2016 and 2018 elections, with a possible trial by the end of the year.

A document filed ahead of his scheduled four-count fraud trial said prosecutors had evidence showing Dowless received at least $135,000 in checks for his work on state and federal campaigns in 2017 and 2018.

At the time he applied for Social Security retirement benefits in 2018, he claimed he was not working and had not worked in two years, the document states. He had previously applied for disability benefits and received them for several years, prosecutors said.

Dowless had worked in 2017 and 2018 in part for 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, a Republican. Witnesses told state officials that Dowless collected hundreds of absentee ballots from Bladen County voters with the help of his aides. These workers said they were asked to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them, and even fill in ballots for local candidates.

Harris appeared to have the most votes in the November 2018 race, but the State Board of Elections ordered a new election, which was won by a subsequent GOP candidate, Dan Bishop.