Bridgeport Councilman Endorsed for Reelection Despite Fraud Arrest

Connecticut state Rep. Christopher Rosario, a Democrat, nominated embattled incumbent Councilman Alfredo Castillo for another two-year term this week at the party convention in the downtown government center.

Castillo, a Democrat who represents Connecticut’s 136th district in Bridgeport, is facing multiple counts of absentee ballot fraud involving the 2019 and 2023 mayoral elections in which he backed incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim.

However, that has not stopped the 54-year-old from running for reelection.

“As for other candidates in the 136th race, Christopher Rodriguez has pulled petition paperwork to challenge Councilman Castillo in a potential Democratic primary,” Rosario told The Epoch Times.

Castillo has pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying that he was merely “following the orders of the Democratic Party.”

His next court hearing is Aug. 13.

“The hearings have been postponed because they’re doing an investigation,” Castillo told The Epoch Times. “Every time we go to court, they postpone it, postpone it, postpone it. There’s nothing. They don’t have nothing.”

Castillo was arrested in June 2024 and again on Feb. 21 of this year and charged with multiple counts of misrepresenting absentee ballot eligibility requirements and improper possession of ballots and envelopes.

He maintains his innocence.

“I haven’t done nothing,” Castillo said. “I get out the vote. That’s what I do. I don’t force signatures.”

Castillo can run for office unless he is convicted, according to Linda Szynkowicz, founder and CEO of Connecticut-based national nonprofit Fight Voter Fraud (FVF).

“As much as we go after people who violate election laws, everybody has their time in court,” Szynkowicz told The Epoch Times. “Since [Castillo] hasn’t been convicted yet, you have to deal with the consequences after the fact. I’m hoping the council would have him step down if he’s convicted.”

Castillo is accused of failing to maintain an absentee ballot distribution list, misrepresenting eligibility requirements for voting by absentee ballot, and failing to sign as an assister on an absentee ballot application in August 2019.

In a 2021 State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) deposition, Castillo first denied and then later admitted he had filled out portions of the application.

Rosario said if an elected councilman, such as Castillo, is removed from office, the Bridgeport City Charter requires the City Council to fill the vacancy by majority vote with a Democratic elector from that district.

“The specific process for selecting candidates may vary by district leadership approach,” Rosario added.

Campaign workers Nilsa Heredia, 62, and Josephine Edmonds, 63, were also arrested and charged along with Bridgeport Democratic Party Vice Chairwoman Wanda Geter-Pataky, 68.

Edmonds admitted she was guilty of voting fraud charges on July 23, under a plea agreement.

She is the first of the four defendants to plead guilty and is a minor player, according to her attorney James Pastore, a public defender.

“Nobody ever gave her any instructions or walked her through what the process was,” Pastore told The Epoch Times. “Most of what she’s charged with are regulatory in nature … failure to keep a log with the town clerk. Nobody ever told her about that.”

Pastore added that Edmonds will be sentenced in September to a three-year suspended sentence with three years’ probation.

“She’s happy to put this matter behind her and looks forward to resolving the case on September 25,” he said.