Guillermo Sainz Gurrola, identified by prosecutors as the manager of Pennsylvania voter registration drives that investigators said produced fraudulent forms during the 2024 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty Monday to three misdemeanor counts and received a sentence of one month in county jail, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors also said Gurrola was fined $1,000 and will serve probation for three counts of solicitation of registration.
The case centers on a voter registration operation in which prosecutors described solicitation arrangements that included financial incentives for canvassers who hit registration quotas. The attorney general’s office said those solicitation-related counts led to Gurrola’s plea, while other allegations remained pending in the same matter.
Prosecutors said the broader investigation began in the weeks before the general election after election workers in Lancaster County flagged registration forms for potential fraud. Investigators said the forms appeared to include false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses, and other problematic details.
In the homestretch of the presidential contest, then-candidate Donald Trump seized on the case publicly, declaring there had been “cheating” involving “2,600” votes, the AP reported. Investigators later said the issue in Lancaster was about 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration forms, not ballots or votes.
Gurrola’s defense attorney, Timothy M. Stengel, declined comment but told the court that Gurrola apologized, AP reported. Authorities had previously identified him as Guillermo Sainz, while Stengel and an online court docket listed his name as Guillermo Sainz Gurrola, according to the report.
Stengel said the Monday plea involved registration drives in Lancaster, Berks and York counties. The Associated Press reported that a court affidavit filed with the criminal charges described Gurrola as an employee of Field+Media Corps and said he “instituted unlawful financial incentives and pressures” to meet company goals that, investigators said, then “spurred some canvassers to create and submit fake forms to earn more money.”
The AP said Field+Media was funded by Everybody Votes, an organization described as having worked to improve voter registration rates in communities of color. The affidavit said Everybody Votes cooperated with the investigation and that its contract with Field+Media prohibited payments on a per-registration basis. Gurrola managed Pennsylvania operations from May to October 2024.