A woman charged with forging names and signatures on election petitions in the Denver area for the failed U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Jon Keyser pleaded guilty in the case Thursday and faces up to six years in prison.
Maureen Marie Moss, 45, admitted to two counts of forgery, a Class 6 felony.
Prosecutors say Moss submitted numerous forged petition signatures to her employer in February and March, who in turn provided the petitions to Keyser’s political campaign, which then submitted them to the Colorado Secretary of State.
The petitions were collected in Arapahoe County, Jefferson County and Denver. The Denver District Attorney’s Office says it worked with prosecutors in neighboring jurisdictions to investigate the case.
In April, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office first learned about the possibility of the fraudulent signatures but did not refer the matter to investigators until media reports confirmed the bogus signatures in May. Denver7 reporter Marshall Zelinger first broke the story.
VIDEO: #Denver7 captures the ARREST of Maureen Moss, signature collector for @Jon_Keyser. 34 forgery counts. #cosen pic.twitter.com/w99xDlneta
— Marshall Zelinger (@Marshall9News) June 8, 2016
Moss was arrested in June on suspicion of 34 felony forgery counts.
The state originally said Keyser had failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the Republican primary ballot for U.S. Senate. But it was later ruled that Keyser had enough valid signatures to qualify for the June 28 Republican primary.
Keyser went on to lose the crowded primary race to Darryl Glenn, who in turn lost his Senate bid to incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet.
Denver prosecutors say Moss faces a sentencing range of probation to six years in prison when her penalty is handed down on Jan. 20.