GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf and eight others could face charges in connection to their actions after the 2020 election following an investigation by the Michigan attorney general.
The Republican candidate for state attorney general Matt DePerno is also on the list of people facing potential charges, as first reported by the Detroit News.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is asking for a special prosecutor to review the case, turning over the findings of her investigation that claim the nine people were involved in a conspiracy to take and tamper with voting machines.
Nessel’s investigation into the 2020 election alleges that high-profile officials, including the Barry County sheriff, were involved in a conspiracy to illegally take and tamper with voting machines.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office had asked the Michigan Attorney General’s office and Michigan State Police to launch an investigation back in February, after they received a tip that an unnamed third party was allowed to access vote tabulator components and technology in Roscommon County.
One of the nine people, Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, had told the clerk at Roscommon County the state House was investigating “election fraud,” Nessel’s petition alleges.
Leaf is accused of convincing a local clerk to turn over a voting machine as part of an investigation into election fraud.
The Barry County clerk previously told News 8 that the Barry County sheriff had taken a Dominion voting tabulator from Irving Township in 2021. She said when the machine was returned, it had a broken security seal.
Last Month, Leaf spoke at a conference in Las Vegas, where he acknowledged his actions were being looking into, showing no signs of backing down.
“Then I found out that investigation is targeting me and I go, ‘oh let’s play ball.’ So we filed a lawsuit,” he said at the conference.
Leaf filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims, saying that Nessel, Benson and MSP were blocking his investigation into unfounded claims of voter fraud during the November 2020 election.
News 8 stopped by Leaf’s home and office and made multiple attempts to contact him but did not hear back.
DePerno, who did not respond to News 8 for comment, denied the allegations during a radio interview Monday.
The findings allege DePerno “orchestrated a coordinated plan to gain access to voting tabulators that had been used in Roscommon County and Richfield Township (Roscommon County), Irving Township (Barry County) and Lake City Township (Missaukee County).”
The petition claims DePerno was “present at a hotel room during such ‘testing.'”
The attorney shut down those allegations during an interview on Monday morning on Michigan’s Big Show.
“Her allegation are total garbage,” DePerno said during the radio interview.
DePerno accused Nessel of weaponizing her office for political gain as the two will face off in the November general election.
“She comes out with this nonsense claiming that somehow that I did something illegal and that she’s going to conduct an investigation and that’s a terrible thing for an Attorney General to do against a political opponent,” he said.
Nessel said she has asked for a special prosecutor to step in because of the upcoming election. However, she said there was not a conflict of interest when she opened the investigation.
