Allegheny County Man Jailed up to 8 Years for Forging Signatures on Nominating Petitions for 2022 U.S. Congressional Candidate

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a western Pennsylvania campaign aide was sentenced to four to eight years in prison for forging signatures on nominating petitions for a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022.

Kirk Rice, 66, of Cheswick, was previously convicted by an Allegheny County jury of fifteen counts of identity theft, one count of theft by deception, fifteen counts of forgery, two counts of perjury, and other related charges.

On Monday, an Allegheny County Judge sentenced Rice to the prison sentence, to be followed by 93 months of probation. He is also required to pay $1,340 in restitution to the Campaign “Steve Irwin for Congress,” and is prohibited from working for any county election department and circulating nominating petitions.

According to trial testimony, Rice was paid $1,340 for collecting 437 signatures for Democratic candidate Steve Irwin for the 2022 primary. It was determined the signatures were falsified by Rice, including one allegedly by U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon.

“This defendant’s actions are an affront to every voter who expects honesty and accountability in our elections,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Over and over again, this defendant defrauded a system based on free and fair elections. This sentence should serve as a reminder that my office will investigate any and all types of election fraud, no matter the person or political party.”

According to the investigation, Rice submitted 34 pages of signatures, with a total of 437 signatures. These petitions were turned over to the campaign and officially filed for Irwin’s nomination. Rice was paid per signature. The campaign later became aware that Rice may have submitted fraudulent signatures.

Rice admitted he did not go door-to-door but instead walked around Pittsburgh, entering businesses and gathering signatures from individuals without verifying whether they were registered Democrats, a specific requirement of the petition process.

This case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Alexander Cashman.

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