A candidate for mayor of Carrollton was arrested this week on 109 felony counts related to voter fraud, according to the Denton County Sheriff’s Office.
A couple weeks ago, the Denton County Elections Office informed the sheriff’s office about possible fraudulent activities with absentee ballot applications, according to a DCSO news release. Absentee ballots had been requested to be sent to a Post Office Box in Lewisville, allegedly belonging to a nursing home facility. Investigators contacted Carrollton residents whose ballots had been requested, but the residents hasn’t made those requests.
Investigators learned that the PO Box had been obtained with a fictitious Texas Driver’s License and fictitious University of North Texas student ID. Investigators began surveilling the postal facility and installed an undercover officer at the facility. On Wednesday, a man picked up a box of the requested ballots from the facility and investigators followed him to a home in the 1600 block of Bennington Drive in Carrollton.
Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the home and in the man’s bedroom, they found a box with the requested ballots, and several had been opened. They also found the fraudulent Driver’s License used to rent the PO Box, and they placed the suspect, Zul Mirza Mohamed under arrest and took him to Denton County Jail.
Mohamed, who is running for mayor of Carrollton, was charged with 25 counts of unlawful possession of a ballot without request of the voter — a second degree felony — and 84 counts of fraudulent use of mail ballot application, a third degree felony.
“I want to commend all the investigators and agencies involved in this investigation,” Sheriff Tracy Murphree. “Voter fraud is a serious and widespread issue and cannot be tolerated. The fact an actual candidate for public office would engage in these activities is appalling. We will continue to aggressively investigate allegations of voter fraud.”
The Texas Attorney General’s Office, Department of Public Safety and Lewisville Police Department worked in conjunction with the DCSO on this case.