Man Arrested With 300 Stolen Recall Ballots In Torrance: Police

TORRANCE, CA — A man was arrested in Torrance after police found a loaded gun, drugs, and more than 300 recall election ballots in his truck, the Torrance Police Department announced Monday. The unopened ballots were addressed to voters in Lawndale and Compton, and now detectives are investigating to determine what he was doing with those ballots.

Due to the ongoing investigation, authorities released few details about the suspect.

"Our detectives are doing their investigation, and we just need to figure how these ballots ended up in his car and what was his intent with these ballots," said Torrence Polie Department Sgt. Mark Ponegalek said. "We are not ruling out anything. It could be mail theft. It could be election fraud."

The ballots appeared to be untampered with, Ponegalek said. As of Monday afternoon, investigators were still trying to determine where and how the man got the ballots.

"So far, it appears they were en route to the actual voters," he added.

The Torrance Police Department's Special Investigations Division, the U.S. Postal Service and the Public Integrity Unit of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office are all investigating.

It began with a call for a welfare check at 10:45 p.m. on Aug. 16, when a person reported a man sleeping in a truck parked at a 7-Eleven at Emerald Street and Hawthorne Boulevard.

Officers arrived to find the subject passed out behind the wheel, Ponegalek said. The officers were able to conduct their investigation and recovered a loaded 9mm handgun, driver's licenses and credit cards that belonged to other people, narcotics, and the voter ballots, he said.

The man, whose name was withheld, was arrested for possession of the firearm and narcotics, as well as theft and suspicion of forgery, Ponegalek said.

Anyone whose ballot was taken will be sent a new one by the county registrar of voter's office, according to police, who said suspicious activity surrounding an election should be reported to investigators by calling 310-328- 3456.

City News Service contributed to this report.