Second former Taylor staffer pleads guilty to election fraud

A second member of Scott Taylor's 2018 campaign staff pleaded guilty Thursday to her role in a petition scandal that might have cost the former congressman re-election that year.

Roberta Marciano, 24, initially was charged with felony election fraud, but was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor count instead.

She received a one-year suspended jail sentence and was fined $1,000 as part of a plea agreement.Itwasthesamedealoffered to a former co-worker earlier this year.

A third staffer is awaiting trial on similar charges.

The plea in Virginia Beach Circuit Court came as a lawyer for Taylor said this week that prosecutors have indicated he won't be facing any charges in the case.

Diane Toscano contacted the special prosecutor assigned to the investigation after he told The Virginian-Pilot earlier this month he expected to seek at least one more indictment in the case and that no one, including Taylor, had been cleared.

Toscano said Roanoke Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Beamer told her there's “no direct evidence implicating” Taylor in the scheme. The prosecutor also said the next indictment he plans to seek in the case will not beagainst Taylor, according to Toscano.

“Your recent statements to the media have created innuendo in our community, casting a false cloud over Mr. Taylor's head less than 60 days before a federal election,” Toscano wrote in a letter to Beamer that she provided to The Pilot.

“If it was not your intent to do so, please clear this upimmediately by issuing a public statement that confirms what you told me expressly.”

Beamer declined Wednesday to discuss Toscano's claims and his boss, Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, didn't respond to an email seeking comment.

Following the plea, Taylor's campaign issued a statement.

“Scott Taylor had no knowledge of any wrongdoing and has never been under investigation,” it read. “Those involved in any illicit behavior can and should be held accountable.”

Marciano's attorney, Eric Plumlee, told reporters that his client was glad to finally put the proceedings behind her.

“She would like the public to know what those closest to her have known all along, that she is a woman of integrity and high moral character and that she never intended to engage in fraudulent behavior or performanyactthatwouldcompromisethe integrity of the election process,” Plumlee said.

Taylor, a Republican elected to the 2nd District seat in 2016, lost his bid for a second term to Democrat Elaine Luria in 2018. Heis challenging her again this year.

His 2018 campaign was rocked just a few months before the election, when allegations surfaced that several of his employees had turned in fraudulent petition signatures in an effort to get a spoiler candidate added to the ballot.

Separate investigations by The Virginian-Pilot, WHRO Public Media and state Democrats showed that dozens of the signatures submitted by Taylor's staffers in support of Independent candidate Shaun Brown had been forged. At least four of the people named were dead.