Belmont Massachusetts Man Arrested On Felony Wrongful Voting Charge In New Hampshire

CONCORD, NH — A multi-year investigation led to a felony voter fraud charge on Friday against a businessman with homes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Richard Rosen, 83, of Washington Street in Belmont, MA, and Route 175 in Holderness, NH, was arrested on a single felony count of wrongful voting, accused by investigators of voting in both states during the November 2016 general election.

Rosen came to the attention of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office by way of the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, a database that tracks possible multiple voter registrations in several states. New Hampshire joined the program in 2017.

Via the database, Rosen was flagged for having voted in both states during the 2016 general election, and an investigator began checking voting records to confirm.

During the initial eyeing of the data, the investigator “discovered a pattern of what appears to be double voting in both states dating back to 1996,” including general elections and primaries. Rosen was accused of voting in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the November 1996, November 2008, November 2012, and November 2016 presidential elections as well as the November 2010 and November 2014 midterm elections. He also appeared to have voted in the presidential primary in January 2012 in New Hampshire and the presidential primary in Massachusetts in March 2012. Rosen voted in the September 2018 primary in New Hampshire but not in Massachusetts.

In June 2020, the investigator called Rosen to question him about the multiple voting but he denied it, saying, “I do not vote in both (states) at the same time,” according to an affidavit. When questioned further, Rosen said he planned on voting in New Hampshire in 2020 but did not recall the exact times he had voted in the state. Rosen and the investigator agreed to meet a few days later to discuss his voting history.

Two hours after the phone call, the investigator received a call from the town clerk of Holderness, who accused Rosen of requesting to have his name removed from the checklist.

The investigator met with Rosen on June 8, 2020, and he again denied voting in both states at the same time and explained he voted in each state, wherever he was living most of that particular year, an affidavit stated.

Blaming ID Fraud

During the interview with the investigator, Rosen was also accused of claiming his identity was stolen by a former business partner in the mid-1990s who stole $100,000 from him.

Rosen stated he discovered the theft “a couple of years ago” after finding charges in Madrid, Spain, at a hotel, the report stated.

But the investigator questioned this, accusing Rosen of using different names while talking about the supposed ID thief, giving different possible addresses for the man and phone numbers, too. The affidavit said he did not report the crimes to any authority. Rosen suggested the investigator check out his driver’s license, saying it would be a picture of the ID thief.

In July 2020, Rosen said he realized he had voted in New Hampshire because he had an absentee ballot and recalled voting in the state until 2018, an affidavit said. The investigator claimed he denied voting in Belmont between 2004 and 2018, saying he restarted voting in Massachusetts after he began spending more time closer to his doctors.

Rosen said he was “proud” to have voted in New Hampshire since he spent most of this time here and did not dispute seven other elections between 2008 and 2016 when he cast ballots in the state, the report said.

The investigator discovered the ID thief had died in 2011. He asked Rosen why he would say he was in contact with him “a couple of years ago” when he had been dead for nine.

“Rosen stated he thought it was several years ago that he last saw (the man) and that he cannot recall now,” the report said.

The license also had a photo that appeared to be Rosen from decades ago. Rosen said it was from April 2000, the report said, something confirmed by the NH DMV.

Rosen was also asked to further explain why he would vote by absentee ballot in New Hampshire and in person in Belmont in November 2016, but the affidavit said he had no recollection of doing so. The investigators said both Rosen and his wife had checked in with election officials and then checked out after voting, the process in Belmont. Rosen said he may have accompanied her but denied voting, the report said.

The investigator noted in the report a Belmont Citizen-Herald article from February 2010, in which Rosen ran for school board and said he lived in town for 37 years. His campaign finance reports for the election also listed his Washington Street address as his home.

Rosen came in fourth out of four candidates for school board in April 2010.

The investigator also spoke with Rosen’s wife, who confirmed he voted in federal and presential elections from Holderness and town elections in Belmont, the report said. When asked about both of them being checked into the Belmont polling location in November 2016, “(she) paused, then stated that she was getting a call from her doctor and that she would have to call me back,” something she never did, the investigator wrote.

A Second Man Blamed

In late July 2020, a private investigator hired by Rosen submitted a report where a Cambridge man admitted to voting in Rosen’s name “three or four times,” the report said.

The investigator spoke with the man in December 2020. During the conversation, he said he admitted to a family member that he had voted for Rosen, the report said. When asked for information about the family member, the man said he had not spoken to her and had no phone number for her since she moved to Arlington, MA.

The investigator, however, tracked the woman down in Billerica, MA, in January 2021, and she said she had never heard of Rosen and denied her family member ever admitted voting in Rosen’s name.

An elections official in Cambridge, MA, also sent the investigator the man’s voting history.

The man registered in October 2011 and had voted once — in the municipal election in November 2011.

The report said that the man also voted once in Malden, MA, in November 2003.

The investigator continued to speak with the man, attempting to find out what was going on, and during those conversations, he was unable to provide any details about voting under Rosen’s name. He also denied Rosen contacted him about voting in his name. The report said the man claimed he learned about the entire issue from Rosen’s butler.

The man “initially agreed to appear at an investigative grand jury in Grafton County” but then refused once a date was secured, the report said.

A warrant was filed later against Rosen and he was arrested on Friday.

Rosen, according to his LinkedIn account and prior interviews, is an engineer and entrepreneur. He is currently the CEO of American Ag Energy, a company that was involved in constructing high-tech greenhouses to grow lettuce and tomatoes. One of the greenhouses was recently completed in Berlin, after five years and a $25 million federal loan.

The businessman faces three and a half to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000 if convicted. He will also lose any chance of ever voting in New Hampshire again. Rosen is slated to be arraigned in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, NH, on Dec. 21.

Voter Registration Information

Rosen, according to documents provided by Belmont MA Town Clerk Ellen O’Brien Cushman, has been a registered Republican since May 1995, the first time he registered to vote in the town.

During 11 primary elections between 1996 and 2020, he chose a Republican ballot when voting. The town of Belmont listed him as inactive on June 2, 2015, and again on June 7, 2016. He regained active voter status on June 30, 2015, and again on July 19, 2016.

Inactive status is usually posted for voters when they have not voted in at least two federal election cycles or voter registration mail has bounced back from the address.

In Holderness, Ellen King, the town clerk, provided voter registration information from three elections — January 2012, November 2016, and September 2018.

Rosen chose Republican ballots in both primaries and was listed on the November 2016 checklist as a registered Republican.

Rosen Denies Voter Fraud Charge

Cathy Green, an attorney at Shaheen & Gordon, issued a statement Saturday saying, "Richard Rosen adamantly denies that he committed any crime, and looks forward to vindication through the legal process."

Shaheen & Gordon is the same firm that worked to get Mary Kate Lowndes, a former Peace Corps director who was registered to vote at a Derry shopping center and did not live in New Hampshire, cleared of voter fraud charges earlier this year.

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