A Nazareth woman pleaded guilty Monday to participating in an election fraud scheme.

Amber Correll, 39, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of making false signatures and statements on nomination petitions, according to a news release from Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Police say she forged 25 signatures on nomination petitions for U.S. Congressional candidate Tim Silfies. The Libertarian candidate ran in 2018 against Susan Wild and Marty Nothstein.

There should never be a doubt that the men and women who appear on ballots or work to gather the signatures needed to get candidates before voters are following the law and doing honest work, Shapiro said in a news release.

Corrells attorney, Brandon Lauria of Philadelphia, didnt return a phone message seeking comment.

Police say Correll was paid to collect the signatures by Jake Towne, 40, of Easton. Thats not illegal, but police say Towne broke the law by signing papers saying he circulated the nomination petitions when in fact Correll circulated them.

At a preliminary hearing in January, Towne attorney Gary Asteak said its common practice for party officials to sign off as circulators of nominating petitions even though they didnt physically circulate the petitions. He said Towne looked over the sheet, matched the names to the addresses and was satisfied they were authentic.

Northampton County Libertarian Party Chairman Jake Towne, left, leaves his preliminary hearing with his attorney, Gary Asteak. Towne is charged with perjury for allegedly signing a candidate's nominating petition even though he didn't circulate the petition.Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com

Asteak said Towne turned down a really sweet deal to plead guilty and will take the case to trial. Towne is charged with five criminal counts, including perjury. Shapiros news release says Towne will stand trial in February. Correll will be sentenced after Townes trial.

This contrived case against Jake Towne is the result of a corrupt system that seeks to silence political activists. The charges against Mr. Towne originated with a GOP fishing expedition to coerce two third party candidates to withdraw from running for office. Circulators in Pennsylvania have never been required to witness signatures on a petition sheet. They only need to have requisite knowledge, meaning reason to believe that the signatures are genuine. Dozens of previous civil cases prove this. What Towne did has never been tried in a criminal court because it is not a criminal matter, said Libertarian Party Chairwoman Jane Horvath in an emailed statement.

She said Correll acted along to deceive Towne.

The attorney generals abuse of power will become evident as the details of this case unfold, and hopefully the public will take notice of how corrupt the two-party system really is, Horvath said.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Nicole Forzato is prosecuting Correll and Towne.

Towne ran for Congress in 2010 and ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2018. He serves as secretary for the Northampton County Libertarian Party.

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Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email him. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.

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Nazareth woman pleads guilty in election fraud case - lehighvalleylive.com