Recall Forger Fined for Faking Signatures

The Racine man who forged signatures on recall petitions in 2011 and 2012 has been fined $2,500 after pleading guilty in March to two felony counts of election fraud.

Mark Demet, 60, was charged in February 2012 with two counts of election fraud and multiple counts of misappropriating identification, but the latter counts were dismissed as part of his guilty plea, online court records show.

In court Friday for his sentencing, Demet tried to explain to Racine County Circuit Court Judge Charles Constantine that he lost his head during the heated lead-up to the recall elections, according to a story in The Journal Times.

“I let my emotions run wild and you know, sometimes hatred blinds you to what’s right or wrong. I knew what I did was wrong, but I was so filled with hatred I did it anyway,” Demet is quoted in the story. “But I learned a valuable lesson, that hatred really doesn’t benefit anybody. It certainly didn’t benefit me in any way, and I truly apologize for my actions.”

Constantine, though, was having none of it, telling Demet that he's an adult and not a teenager. 

Jason Adams of Racine contacted Patch in January 2012 and said he found his name on a petition to recall former Sen. Van Wanggaard, though he never signed one. He believed his neighbor, Demet, forged his signature — and suspected that Demet may have forged signatures of other neighbors and family members. TMJ4 found members of DeMet's family claim the same thing.

At the time, Adams was confused about why Demet would forge his signature because there was never any bad blood between them.

"I had a nice conversation with (Mark Demet) last summer about Walker," Adams said in January 2012. "I told him what I thought, which was the opposite of what he thought. There was no anger there."

According to his criminal complaint, Demet admitted that he circulated the petition and signed the names of seven people on the petition. Investigators spoke to six of the people whose names appeared on the list to verify that they had not signed the petition.

Assistant District Attorney James Newlun asked for jail time, the JT story reads, but the judge said prison time for Demet wouldn't serve any real purpose. Fining him, though, and giving him a strict deadline of 180 days to pay or face 60 days in jail will probably do the trick.

Had Demet been convicted of all charges, including those dismissed, he could have faced up to 42 years in prison and/or up to $90,000 in fines. He also could have faced similar charges in Kenosha County, but prosecutors there chose not to move forward with a case against Demet, according to The Journal Times.