A Hamtramck City Council member has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in his alleged election fraud case, which the prosecutor said was the only way to end it with a conviction on his record.
Muhtasin Sadman pleaded guilty last week to a reduced charge of disorderly person loitering about an illegal business, according to Hamtramck District Court records. He originally had been charged with making a false statement in an application for an absentee ballot, a misdemeanor, but Monroe County Prosecutor Jeff Yorkey said this plea was the only way to get a conviction.
“The gist of the fact pattern he gave was that he was with other individuals who were engaging in election fraud, specifically ballot harvesting for the 2023 Hamtramck City Council general election,” Yorkey said. “He claims he did not participate in the ballot harvesting.”
Yorkey said his office had witness issues with the case — the four felony charges against him were dismissed in October after two witnesses did not appear to testify in court — and this plea was a way to get Sadman to admit to something.
“At least the public is aware of what’s going on in Hamtramck,” said Yorkey, who was appointed by the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan after Attorney General Dana Nessel requested a special prosecutor in the case.
Sadman was fined $500 and sentenced to a year of non-reporting probation. If he stays out of trouble, the conviction against him will be dismissed and won’t remain on his record, said Yorkey, whose office handled the prosecution of the cases against Sadman and Councilman Mohammed Hassan.
Sadman was originally charged with forging a signature on an absentee ballot, election law forgery, two counts of aiding an unqualified elector in an attempt to vote and making a false statement on an absentee ballot. All but the misdemeanor false statements on an absentee ballot were dismissed after two witnesses did not appear in court in October to testify.
Hassan is also charged with forging a signature on an absentee ballot application and election law forgery and is headed to trial in April on the charges. He has a pretrial hearing on March 13.
In April, Nessel’s office requested a special prosecutor to explore allegations that Hassan, Sadman and others who have not been charged conspired to receive unvoted absentee ballots that had been signed by recently naturalized citizens, and then filled in the candidates of their choosing.
Yorkey said Sadman did not give the names of the others he was with when he pleaded guilty, but noted the prosecutor’s office has other cases pending. No one else has been charged, and Yorkey declined to comment on the yet-to-be-charged cases.
The investigation was initiated by then Hamtramck City Manager Max Garbarino, who was subsequently suspended and fired by the council members. After Garbarino made the allegations in May, amid a visit by the FBI, he suspended Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri. The City Council, prompted by Mayor Amer Ghalib, in turn suspended Garbarino.
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hamtramck councilman pleads guilty to reduced charge in election fraud case
Reporting by Kara Berg, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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