Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding New Haven Probate Judge Candidate

NEW HAVEN, CT —A former Connecticut state Representative, who was on federal probation at the time, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud a then-New Haven Probate Judge candidate in 2017, according to the Justice Department.

Victor Cuevas, 58, of Waterbury, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Hartford federal court. When sentenced on Jan. 17, 2023, he faces up to five years in federal prison.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI announced the plea.

According to Avery, court documents and statements made in court, Cuevas co-operated a Connecticut-based political consulting business called Yellow Dog Strategies. In 2017, the business was paid $5,750 to collect 1,000 petition signatures from registered Democrats in New Haven in support of a probate judge primary candidate, she explained. Cuevas supervised the consulting businesses' collection of voters’ signatures using a team of “Circulators,” each of whom was required by state regulations to sign a Statement of Authenticity before a notary public attesting that they had collected the voters’ petition signatures in person.

"Rather than collect legitimate voter signatures, Cuevas conspired with others to defraud the candidate by submitting falsified petition forms," per Avery. Specifically, Cuevas caused signatures of registered voters to be forged on petitions and caused the signature of a purported Circulator to be forged on a Statement of Authenticity, a news release on the case reads.

Cuevas caused the falsified forms to be delivered to the candidate, who, unaware of the forgeries, submitted those petitions to be counted, prosecutors said. The New Haven Democratic Registrar of Voters quickly detected forged signatures in the petitions and, when they learned that voter signatures had been forged, the candidate withdrew from the primary, Avery said.

The Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission immediately initiated an investigation into Cuevas’s conduct and, when he learned about the investigation, he and his co-conspirators attempted to conceal their scheme by pressuring the fictitious Circulator, whose signature had been forged, to sign a false affidavit, prosecutors said.

Cuevas, a former Connecticut State Representative, was on federal probation at the time of the offense. In October 2016, he was sentenced in New Haven federal court to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine for conspiring with others to commit bank fraud in connection with his home mortgage loan applications.

Cuevas is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing.

This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Conor Reardon and Jonathan Francis.

U.S. Attorney Avery thanked the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission for its assistance in this matter.