Six people living across California, all citizens of the Philippines or Portugal, are charged with illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election, federal investigators announced. The defendants are spread across the Central Valley and the Sacramento area, with one of them also accused of casting an illegal ballot two years earlier, in the 2022 midterm election.
FBI Sacramento posted the update on X on Monday, saying the six individuals, currently residing in the United States, are charged with illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election, and pointing readers to further details on the investigation. The post, titled FBI Sacramento Investigation Update
, says the FBI is investigating the alleged illegal voting alongside Homeland Security Investigations.
Local reporting has filled in names and hometowns for four of the six defendants. According to The San Joaquin Valley Sun, the four people charged are Lorie Jane Alcala, 44, Edith San Pedro Carter, 59, Maria Joao Bettencourt, 49, and Rosa Bento Silva Anderson, 26.
Who the Defendants Are and Where They Live
Per YourCentralValley, Alcala is a Philippine national residing in Hanford who is charged with illegally voting in the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024. Carter, also a Philippine national, lives in Fresno and faces the same charge tied to that same election date, the station reports.
The other two Central Valley defendants are citizens of Portugal. Bettencourt, a Portuguese national residing in Visalia, is charged with illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election, and Anderson, a Portuguese national residing in Turlock, faces an identical charge, according to the same YourCentralValley report.
Two more defendants named in that reporting live outside the Central Valley. Janelyn Stewart, 38, a Philippine national residing in Vallejo, is charged with illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election. Meryll Joy Quirong Costi, 36, a Philippine national residing in Sacramento, is charged with illegally voting in both the Nov. 5, 2024, presidential election and the Nov. 8, 2022, midterm election, the station's report notes.
What the DOJ Has Confirmed So Far
A Justice Department release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California corroborates at least part of the station's account, confirming that Stewart and Costi were charged in connection with the 2024 presidential election, though the available excerpt of that release does not spell out full case details for every defendant.
Part of a Broader Nationwide Push
These six cases fit into a larger pattern of federal activity.
The New York Times reported that, as of Oct. 30, more than 220 people across 28 states had been charged in connection with voting violations during President Trump's second term.
FBI Sacramento's announcement does not address pleas, court dates, or whether any of the six defendants have been convicted. The post directs the public to additional information about the joint FBI and HSI investigation but does not detail what penalties the defendants could face if the case proceeds.
