Two people were arrested late Wednesday on charges they knowingly gathered and notarized false signatures for a petition to recall Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas in 2006, authorities said.
Miami-Dade Police say Luz Dunlap, 59, a notary, knowingly authorized forged signatures for the failed recall effort. She is charged with more than 100 counts of falsely taking signatures and receiving signatures to mislead a public servant, both third-degree felonies.
Police also charged Anibal Roberto Orellana-Ramirez, 26, with 23 counts of forgery, a third-degree felony. Authorities say he also falsely signed a petition with someone else's name, a first-degree misdemeanor.
The December 2006 recall vote was spurred by a group called Citizens for Positive Change, who collected 3,443 petition signatures calling for the removal of the then-four-term commissioner. The anti-Seijas group included many citizens from Miami Lakes who said they were fed up with her tenure.
Comments