WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A political operative at the center of a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud investigation has made his first court appearance on federal charges related to his campaign work.
Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. of Bladen County was present in Wilmington federal court on Monday before a magistrate judge. A grand jury indicted Dowless on charges that he received thousands of dollars more in Social Security benefits than he was entitled to because he allegedly concealed more than $100,000 he was paid for campaign work.
Dowless is accused separately in state court of illegally “harvesting” mail-in ballots while working for a Republican congressional candidate.
