Five accused of voter fraud in Lake County

Five Lake County residents face charges related to voter fraud stemming from the November 2016 election, authorities said.

Marcello Villaruz, 63, his wife, Gina Villaruz, 51, both of Beach Park, and Yvette Yust, 56, of Waukegan, each face two felony counts of perjury for misrepresenting their citizenship when voting in the election, Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Fred Day said.

Marvin Hershman, 89, of Riverwoods, and Janet Pokryfke, 70, of Mundelein, are each charged with two counts of voting more than once and one count of perjury. Day said the Hershman and Pokryfke voted in Lake County, then voted again in Cook County.

Day said all five face sentences of up to five years in prison if found guilty. The charges are also probationable.

Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said the voting problems were discovered by the Lake County clerk's office and turned over to the state's attorney's office for investigation.

"Through these investigations and prosecutions, we are hoping to end a message to the community that interfering with our election process, which is the core of our democracy, will not be tolerated," Nerheim said.

Lake County Clerk Carla Wyckoff said she could not comment except to say complaints of voter fraud are turned over to the state's attorney's office for investigation.

All five are due in court March 21 for arraignment.