While Rejecting A Plea Deal And Going To Trial, Other Allegations Hang Over Serial Election Fraud Violator City Councilman Alfredo Castillo

He’s not done yet, far from it, be it fighting serial election fraud charges or fresh allegations under investigation by state authorities.

On Tuesday City Councilman Alfredo Castillo joined ex Democratic Party Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky in court to reject plead deals offered by Connecticut’s Chief State’s Attorney of two and a half and three years in prison, respectively, to resolve dozens of criminal charges over recent municipal elections.

Both face potential heavier prison exposure losing at trial – yet to be scheduled – calculations their seasoned attorneys Frank Ricco and John Gulash have weighed. How much more punishment would a judge mete out upon conviction? There is not a lot of likewise state prosecution cases to compare.

The striking difference between the two defendants, Geter-Pataky has lowered her political profile significantly while Castillo has kicked it into campaign hyper space, damn the consequences, most recently on behalf of losing probate judge candidate Mark Bradley – himself under criminal investigations for election fraud – defeated by incumbent Paul Ganim in a Democratic primary two weeks ago.

Last month affidavits signed by Bridgeport voters established multiple players in the Bradley campaign “used forged signatures, false circulator certifications, unauthorized proxy signatures, and out-of-state circulators to secure ballot access” for Bradley.

One voter reported that Castillo “heavily pressured him” to forge the signature of his son who wasn’t even home while another provided information charging Castillo with falsifying a circulator form to gain Bradley ballot access.

Connecticut law requires each petition circulator to sign the petition under penalty of false statement, certifying that the circulator personally witnessed each signature.

The Ganim campaign had considered, weeks prior to the August 11 primary, to file a court complaint challenging Bradley’s signature process for ballot access, a labor-intensive effort, under a tight timeline, to compile sufficient evidence to present to the court. Instead the campaign decided to settle the matter at the polls.

That information, however, can be presented to the State Elections Enforcement Commission for review as well as investigators probing criminal conduct.

Last November Castillo was arrested for the fourth time, covering several elections, on a charge of illegally possessing a woman’s absentee ballot.

In addition, last year, Castillo was accused of impersonating a Housing and Urban Development worker to harness absentee ballots at the Harborview Towers public housing units, allegations that the State Elections Enforcement Commission has referred to state investigators for a criminal probe.

The case of the other remaining high-profile pol under arrest for alleged election fraud, City Councilwoman Maria Pereira, was continued on Tuesday. She, too, supported Mark Bradley’s campaign harnessing absentee ballot votes in her Upper East Side district.

Pereira has gamed the court system buying time by hiring and firing multiple public defenders. The allegations against her go back to 2023 while she supported John Gomes for mayor.

It appears any plea deal offered her by the state would also require prison time. Pereira has vowed to beat the charges.