Thompson pleads guilty to election law violation

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced 61-year-old Rus Thompson of Niagara Falls pleaded guilty, to offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree, before State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia.

On Sept. 10, 2015, Thompson registered to vote in the primary election on Grand Island by affidavit ballot, claiming that he resided on Grand Island when the year before he had moved to the City of Niagara Falls.

As a result, Thompson was able to vote in the Grand Island September 2015 primary, November 2015 general election and April 2016 presidential primary.

DA Flynn credits the Erie County Board of Elections for its assistance in the case.

Thompson faces a maximum of up to a year in jail when he is sentenced by Justice Buscaglia at 9:30 a.m. on May 3.

Assistant District Attorney Gary M. Ertel in the DA's Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau prosecuted the case.