Florida officials dismantle suspected petition fraud ring in Lee County

LEE COUNTY, Fla. —

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is dismantling a suspected petition fraud ring in Lee County, involving multiple arrests.

According to court documents, more than 10,000 invalid petitions triggered the investigation, with the FDLE stating that paid circulators submitted forged or false voter signatures.

Melissa Pearce Vandall, a victim in the case, said, "My name wasn't even spelled right. My last name was not right, you know? So, yeah, it raised red flags, I'm sure."

Investigators revealed that the Lee County Supervisor of Elections turned over thousands of invalid petitions tied to the proposed amendment to limit government interference with abortion in 2024. FDLE records show four people now face felony charges: Angel Herrera, Hope Dusek, Nicole Womack, and Adam Rudlaff. Agents allege the group was paid based on the number of signatures collected. Rudlaff told investigators they made just shy of $10,000 doing the work led by Herrera and were paid by an unknown man named "Dustin," according to court documents.

Vandall, who is listed as a victim in the case, said, "They were offered a lot of money to do this." She told Gulf Coast News her information was wrong on the petition.

"I feel that it was wrong and she shouldn't have done it, or he should have done it," Vandall said.

Rudlaff has appeared in the news before; in April 2023, he was shot outside the Lucky Screw in downtown Fort Myers.

Investigators say numerous voters told them they never signed the petitions attributed to them. In response to cases like this, Florida lawmakers passed a new law in May 2025, requiring supervisors of elections to mail a “petition signature notice” to voters whose signatures have been processed and accepted, so they can confirm they actually signed.

Vandall expressed concern about the impact on vulnerable individuals, saying, "The underlings, the disadvantaged people that are homeless, that need money and stuff. They're the ones that are going to pay for this. Not the people that you know should be held accountable to some degree, because they're the ones that were paying the money and supposed to be supervising this."

State officials say this is part of a larger statewide effort to crack down on petition fraud, following another arrest in January involving alleged voter registration fraud in a marijuana initiative case.

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