Woman charged in Arizona fake elector scheme pleads guilty

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- One of the 11 Republicans charged in Arizona's fake lector scheme during the 2020 election pleaded guilty.

Loraine Pellegrino accepted a guilty plea Tuesday for her role in the scheme in which she and the other defendants falsely claimed to be presidential electors for former President Donald Trump in the state.

Pellegrino had been facing nine felonies for her role in what Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes said was a conspiracy designed to "prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency."

On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of filing a "false instrument" while the other charges against her were dismissed.

"She has taken full responsibility for her actions, demonstrating her commitment to upholding the law and contributing positively to the community. The sentence of unsupervised probation with community service acknowledges her remorse and willingness to make amends," Pellegrino's attorney Joshua Kolsrud said in a statement.

Former president Donald Trump, who was indicted for alleged election interference in Georgia, was not charged in the Arizona case, but the indictment referred to him as "unindicted co-conspirator 1."

Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis was the first defendant to reach a deal with prosecutors to testify against other defendants in exchange for the nine felonies against her being dropped.

Ellis also pleaded guilty in Georgia to charges related to her support of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Indicted in the Arizona case were people who posed as fake electors in the state as well as Trump associates Rudolph Giuliani , John Eastman , Boris Epshteyn, Jenna Ellis, Christina Bobb and Michael Roman.

They were all charged with nine felony counts.

Dozens of the fake electors have been criminally charged in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada.

After being defeated in the 2020 election Trump and some of his supporters carried out a plan to present Trump electors from battleground states to Congress in an effort to derail the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

At first, the Trump lawyers claimed they would be contingent electors in case the Trump campaign won lawsuits contesting election results.

The fight for Trump to remain in office despite the will of the voters culminated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters told by the former president to "fight like hell" on Jan. 6, 2021. The mob attacked the U.S., Capitol, forcing lawmakers to flee temporarily disrupting Congress' certification of the election results.

But Vice President Mike Pence refused to participate in the scheme to keep Trump in office and became a target of the mob.

Pence instead fulfilled his constitutional role of presiding over the congressional electoral vote count to reflect the will of voters in the 2020 election.