Kyle Davidsonb/Michigan Advance Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, left, announced in June 2024, criminal enterprise charges against three individuals in connection with a fraudulent signature scandal which left eight candidates off the ballot for the August 2022 primary.

MT. CLEMONS — Nearly four years after a petition signature fraud scam kept several Republican candidates from making the ballot in 2022, a Macomb County judge has sentenced one of the perpetrators to up to 20 years in prison.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2023 announced charges against three individuals: Shawn Wilmoth, Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin and Willie Reed. Wilmoth and Reed were found guilty in February, while Wilmoth-Goodin was found not guilty

Wednesday, Judge James Maceroni of the 16th Circuit Court in Macomb County sentenced Wilmoth to 4 to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $376,601 in restitution to the victims.

Wilmoth contracted with 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidates Donna Brandenburg, Mike Brown, Perry Johnson and Michael Markey as well as judicial candidates Tricia Dare, John Cahalan and John Michael Malone, charging the campaigns nearly $400,000 before knowingly delivering tens of thousands of fraudulent signatures on nominating petitions to the campaigns.

“This defendant ran a calculated scheme that sabotaged candidates and stripped Michigan voters of choices in the 2022 election,” Nessel said in a statement. “This conduct attacked the integrity of our electoral system, and I am proud of the work of my office and the Department of State in securing this sentence. We remain committed to fighting to hold those who commit election fraud accountable.”

Reed will be sentenced on March 31.