PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A former candidate for Peoria mayor pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges related to the most recent campaign, where he was accused of forgery.
Jacob Ryan, 24, pleaded guilty on Oct. 9 in Peoria County Circuit Court to mutilation of election materials and forgery when he forged signatures on his petition packet to the Peoria County Election Commission.
He was sentenced to 30 months’ probation and to 180 days in the county jail. However, that jail term is not set to begin until next October and only after a “remission hearing.” Such a hearing is where a judge will look over what a person has done while on probation.
If someone complies and acts properly, then it’s possible that they will not have to serve time in jail.
According to state law, when someone enters the race for mayor they must submit a petition packet to the election commission, and in the packet, they have to swear the signatures are real, said Anna Perales, a spokeswoman for State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos said last year.
The charges allege he “knowingly made a false statement, material to the issue in question, which he did not believe to be true in an affidavit required by the election code.” The mutilation of election materials alleges he falsified an affidavit.
What happened?
Ryan, who was running for a chance to be Peoria’s mayor, dropped out of the contest on Nov. 8, 2024, after his petitions were challenged. He was charged in court about a month later.
Those challenges were filed by a city resident who claimed that Ryan’s petitions “demonstrate a pattern of fraud, in that multiple signatures are forgeries and the candidate executed the circulator’s affidavit swearing under oath that the signatures were ‘signed in my presence’ and ‘are genuine.’”
The complaint also stated that many signature lines on his petitions for office did not have a signed name. As such, those should all be stricken. Eleven people, the complaint alleged, filed sworn statements that they did not sign Ryan’s nomination papers.
Because he dropped out before the election commission could hear the allegations, nothing was done at the time. However, even then, it was possible that Peoria County prosecutors would at least take a look at it.
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