An official active in the Villagers for Trump group has been sentenced to jail time in a voter fraud case involving his dead father’s mail-in ballot.
Robert Rivernider Jr., 58, was sentenced to 180 days in jail on Tuesday after he was found guilty in December by a Sumter County jury on charges of fraud and forgery. In addition to the jail time, he has been ordered to pay $916 in court costs.
Rivernider, who lives at Continental Country Club in Wildwood, was charged with having signed a vote-by-mail ballot for his father, Robert Rivernider Sr., according to an elections fraud complaint from Sumter County Supervisor of Elections William Keen. The senior Rivernider died on Oct. 19, 2020.
“By filling out the mail-in ballot for his father, the Defendant intended to defraud or injure the State by voting for someone who was no longer alive,” said Assistant State Attorney Joseph Church.
Rivernider is already on federal probation for a 2013 conspiracy and wire fraud conviction. He won a “compassionate release” from federal prison during the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed his father’s life.
A number of Villagers were charged with casting more than one ballot in the 2020 election, but all escaped with light sentences, which consisted primarily of civics classes. Villagers who were arrested were Joan Marie Halstead, Jay Richard Ketcik, Charles Franklin Barnes and John Rider.
