Los Angeles woman accused of paying homeless people to register to vote

Federal prosecutors say a longtime petition circulator turned a Skid Row sidewalk routine into a voter-registration scheme, paying homeless people small amounts of cash and handing out cigarettes and prepaid cellphone cards to get them signed up.

Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, of Marina del Rey, also known as Anika, was charged with one felony count of paying another person to register to vote. Prosecutors say the offense carries a statutory maximum of five years in federal prison, and Armstrong has agreed to plead guilty.

According to the Justice Department, Armstrong had worked for about 20 years as a petition circulator, gathering signatures for ballot initiatives that qualified for California elections. Prosecutors said she regularly worked in Skid Row, where some of the people she approached did not have a home address. In those cases, she allegedly used her former address on voter-registration forms.

Investigators said the case began with undercover video that surfaced online and narrowed the focus of the inquiry. Prosecutors say Armstrong paid people about $2 to $3 and also offered cigarettes and prepaid cellphone cards. At a news conference, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said false registrations undermine confidence in elections, while First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the alleged conduct involved paying people to register to vote so they could later sign petitions. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan also condemned the conduct.

The case comes as federal authorities continue to highlight both election-related enforcement and hate-crime prosecutions in Los Angeles. In a separate matter, prosecutors unsealed a grand jury indictment against Zaid Gitesatani, 28, of Carlsbad, accusing him of a hate crime after a June 23, 2024 attack near Adas Torah Synagogue in Pico-Robertson. Prosecutors said Gitesatani traveled from San Diego to Los Angeles for a protest at the “My Home in Israel” event, assaulted a Jewish man identified as Victim A while he was walking his dog, and later posted about it on Instagram.

That indictment carries a potential 10-year prison term if Gitesatani is convicted. In the same Pico-Robertson area, federal prosecutors also previously secured the case against Jaime Tran, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for shooting two Jewish men leaving synagogue services. Against that backdrop, Armstrong’s case stands out for a different kind of abuse of trust: a small-cash scheme on Skid Row that prosecutors say crossed the line from petition work into a federal felony.