Former Suffolk City Council campaign staffer indicted for election fraud

SUFFOLK, Va. – A former campaign staffer for a Suffolk City Council candidate has now been indicted.

Dana Cooper faces 17 charges of election fraud after a grand jury indicted her this week.

News 3 reported last summer that dozens of people said they did not sign forms to qualify candidate Art Bredemeyer to be on the ballot, but their names and signatures appeared on the forms.

All of the signatures in question were collected by Cooper, which prompted an investigation by Virginia State Police.

The Suffolk Electoral Board later removed Bredemeyer from the ballot, leaving his opponent John Rector to be on the ballot unopposed.

Bredemeyer denied having any knowledge of the signatures.

It’s unclear when Cooper will appear in court.

News 3 was unable to reach her last summer when the investigation began. A woman at a home in Newport News, where Cooper has said she lived, said at the time she did not live there.