PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia political consultant pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal charges for forging signatures to get Democratic nominee clients onto 2019 primary ballots in the city, according to the Attorney General’s office.
Rasheen Crews, 46, will be sentenced June 29.
Crews served as a political consultant during the May 2019 primary, where he worked with several Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Philadelphia Municipal Court candidates.
Hired to collect the signatures needed to complete the paperwork needed to be included on the Democratic ballot that year, Crews was paid per signature collected, according to the affidavit. Rather than collecting the signatures legally, Crews either forged, or hired others to forge, signatures by renting out hotel rooms where workers would copy down names and addresses onto petition paperwork, the complaint states.
“He accepted responsibility for what happened back in 2019,” said Jason Javie, Crews' attorney. “We're looking forward to June (when) Judge (Rayford) Means ... is going to decide the appropriate sanction because this was an open plea.”
The Office of the Attorney General began investigating Crews in 2019. Though several candidates remained on the ballot that year, others dropped out of the race once the allegations were made.
Crews was charged in November with criminal solicitation to commit forgery and theft by failure to make a required disposition.
