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An indictment returned against Plainfield's former mayoral candidate Dr. Henrilynn Ibezim charges him with tampering with witnesses and informants and trafficking in personal identifying information pertaining to another person, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
Ibezim had previously been accused of trying to submit hundreds of bogus voter registration applications to Union County's election officials, and then trying to cover up his actions.
Ibezim, a candidate in the June 2021 primary election, brought a garbage bag containing nearly 1,000 falsified voter registration applications to an Elizabeth post office, intending to mail the documents to the Union County Commissioner of Registration, Platkin said.
He created and attempted to submit false voter registration applications containing the personal identifying information of individuals without their authorization, Platkin said. Many of the applications had the handwriting of only three or four writers.
The applications did not state, as required, that they were completed by anyone other than the voter for whom the application was purportedly submitted.
During the investigation, Ibezim tried to hinder by giving false information to law enforcement, claiming to have paid two individuals to procure completed voter registration forms and that he communicated with those two individuals prior to bringing the applications to the post office.
Ibezim also instructed a witness how to respond to law enforcement questions in an interview and to not “admit anything," Platkin said.
The indictment includes the following counts:
- Election fraud – 2nd degree
- Trafficking in personal identifying information pertaining to another person – 2nd degree
- Criminal attempt to commit false registration or transfer – 3rd degree
- Tampering with public records or information — 3rd degree
- Falsifying or tampering with records — 4th degree
- Forgery — 3rd Degree
- Hindering apprehension or prosecution — 3rd degree
- Tampering with witnesses and informants — 3rd degree
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