Six Nevadans, three from Douglas County, indicted in fake elector plot

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Six Nevadans were indicted by a grand jury for their false portrayal as Nevada’s presidential electors in the aftermath of the 2020 election, says the state's Attorney General Aaron Ford.

Three of the six are Douglas County residents, with one, Eileen Rice, the wife of Douglas County Commissioner Wes Rice, and a Lake Tahoe resident.

The six defendants, who were indicted by a grand jury in the Eighth Judicial District Court, falsely portrayed themselves as Nevada’s presidential electors. They have been charged with Offering a False Instrument for Filing, a category C felony, and Uttering a Forged Instrument, a category D felony, for offering a false instrument titled “Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Nevada” to the President of the Senate; the Archivist of the United States; the Nevada Secretary of State; and the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

“When the efforts to undermine faith in our democracy began after the 2020 election, I made it clear that I would do everything in my power to defend the institutions of our nation and our state,” said AG Ford. “We cannot allow attacks on democracy to go unchallenged. Today’s indictments are the product of a long and thorough investigation, and as we pursue this prosecution, I am confident that our judicial system will see justice done.”

The six Nevadans who were charged are Michael McDonald, Jesse Law, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan. and Eileen Rice.

McDonald is the Nevada Republican Party Chairman and DeGraffenreid is a national Republican Party committee member. Besides Rice, DeGraffenreid and Meehan are from Douglas County.

The six Nevadans were signatories of documents in which they posed as the duly qualified electors for the state of Nevada. The indictments have members of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of the Attorney General, Nevada Secretary of State for Elections, and AG Criminal Division on their witness list along with Kenneth Chesebro. Chesebro is the attorney known as the architect of the Trump fake electors plot and has already pleaded guilty to the conspiracy in Georgia, and according to CHH is also cooperating with Michigan and Wisconsin state investigations.