A former city councilman has been sentenced to spend three weekends in federal prison and serve one year of probation for falsifying votes when he ran for a seat on the council in 2017 and 2018.
Michael DeFilippo, 38, of Bridgeport, was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine when he was sentenced in federal court in New Haven, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
The sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty in May to deprivation of rights under color of law.
The prosecution argued unsuccessfully for a prison sentence.
“This case is no ordinary misdemeanor prosecution” the government said in a court filing. “The defendant Michael DeFilippo willfully struck a blow at foundational principles of local democracy. He thwarted the will of the people to cheat his way into elected office, placing his own political ambition above the will of the voting public.”
According to federal officials, DeFilippo served on the city council from June 2018 until July 2021, representing the 133rd District, which is near the Sacred Heart University campus. Officials said he owned several rental properties that he leased to students of the university and used the names of tenants to falsify votes.
Though city council elections are usually held in Bridgeport in odd-numbered years, the September 2017 primary was re-run in November 2017 and again in April 2018 because of “repeated absentee ballot irregularities in the Democratic primary for the 133rd District,” federal officials said. The general election took place in June 2018.
DeFilippo was selected as one of the two Democratic nominees for the 133rd District in April 2018 and in June 2018, he was elected to the Bridgeport City Council.
Authorities allege that in the primaries as well as the general election, DeFilippo stole and falsified voter registration applications and absentee balloting documents. He forged signatures and submitted fraudulent election documents to election officials in the name of some of his tenants, officials said.
“DeFilippo’s conduct caused Bridgeport and Connecticut election officials acting under color of law to deprive DeFilippo’s tenants of their right to vote (by counting stolen ballots), and to deprive all 133rd District voters of their right to have their votes fully counted (by diluting election results with fraudulent registrations and ballots),” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
DeFilippo won the town committee endorsement in his council race in 2017. At the time, he worked as a bartender. DeFilippo also owned several multi-family homes that he rented to dozens of students who attended nearby Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
He was one of the two highest vote getters in the two-person district. But the result was overturned based on allegations of absentee ballot irregularities brought by the third place finisher.
In the second primary, DeFilippo again was a top two finisher, but those results were again tossed out based on allegations of ballot fraud.
The court hearing the election challenge concluded that DeFilippo had “injected” himself into what had become “illegal partisan party interference” and ordered the primary to be run a third time. DeFilippo finished among the top two candidates again and went on to win the general election.
DeFilippo was a council member until 2021, when he resigned after being indicted.
