Tompkinsville Man Sentenced in Vote Buying Scheme

Write-In Candidate for Magistrate in the Monroe County 2006 General Election

BOWLING GREEN, KY—A Tompkinsville, Kentucky man has been sentenced to three years’ probation, eight months of home incarceration, and payment of a $4,000 fine, after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to buy votes in the 2006 General Election in Monroe County, Kentucky, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Tony A. Gumm, age 65, was sentenced this morning in United States District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky by Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. Gumm was named in a federal grand jury indictment on June 9, 2010, along with five other defendants from Tompkinsville, on charges of conspiring to buy votes and actually buying votes during a period leading up to the general election. The object of the conspiracy was to secure the election for Gumm and other candidates. At the time, Gumm was a write-in candidate for Monroe County Magistrate.

The indictment alleges that beginning in October, 2006, and continuing to the date of the general election on November 7, 2006, Gumm, Martha J. Hughes, Jeffrey Todd Newport, William H. Proffit, Corey Page, and Michael Page paid voters to cast walk-in absentee ballots. Voters were paid to lie about their intended whereabouts on Election Day, and to falsely state they were blind, disabled, or unable to read English and thus in need of assistance to vote. Members of the conspiracy would then accompany the voters into the booth to cast the voters’ ballot. The indictment specifies 17 voters who were paid $25 to $80 dollars for voting in the election.

On June 9, 2011, William H. Proffit entered a guilty plea in United States District Court, in Bowling Green, Kentucky and is scheduled to be sentenced September 14, 2011 at 9 a.m. before Judge McKinley. The maximum potential penalties for Proffit are five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of three years. For defendants Hughes, Corey Page, Michel Page, and Todd Newport, the maximum potential penalties are 10 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of three years. Their trial is scheduled for December 12, 2011.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas W. Dyke, Assistant United States Attorney Chief, Criminal Division Randy Ream, and Edward Kang, Department of Justice Public Integrity Section. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.