FBI Chased a Man They Call Lord Off Skid Row Over an Election Scheme

A homeless man on Skid Row would sign his name for two or three dollars.

Federal agents say the man running that operation was clearing a thousand dollars a day off of it.

Before sunrise this week, the FBI finally cornered him at a gas station.

The 4:45 A.M. Run That Ended at a Gas Station

James Brass, 47, of Victorville, ran the operation under the nickname "Lord," and federal agents had been watching him for months.

When Brass left his house at 4:45 in the morning, FBI surveillance teams were already in position.

He did not make it far.

Agents followed him to a nearby gas station and took him into custody around 6 a.m., without incident, according to federal prosecutors.

Two alleged circulators, Courtney Price of Jacksonville and Jateisha Herron of Boron, California, were charged alongside him.

How a Homeless Encampment Became a Signature Mill

Brass allegedly ran his scheme through a company called Pinnacle Brass, and Skid Row was the factory floor.

Pinnacle Brass was registered with the California Secretary of State, but there is no record it currently operates as an active company at all.

Homeless residents were allegedly paid two to three dollars per forged signature on ballot initiative petitions, using the real names and addresses of registered California voters who had no idea their identities were being used.

Circulators reportedly earned seven to ten dollars for every "good" signature they brought in, which prosecutors say let Brass clear roughly a thousand dollars on a good day.

Federal prosecutors say Brass collected approximately $41,600 from a petition management company for signatures gathered this way.

Brass and Herron did not stop at collecting the forged names.

They allegedly signed sworn declarations claiming they had personally witnessed the real voters signing those petitions, when the actual signers were homeless strangers standing in for people who were never there.

California requires more than half a million signatures to qualify a statutory initiative for the ballot, and over 874,000 for a constitutional amendment.

Every forged name on that pile moves a measure closer to the ballot on the strength of a lie.

Brass Told His Own Circulator to Lie About Where They Worked

Investigators recovered a text message Brass sent Price once questions started coming in.

If asked, he told her to say she had been collecting signatures somewhere between Inglewood and Torrance.

Then he spelled out the real instruction in capital letters: "NEVER EVER SAY DOWN TOWN LA."

A man running a legitimate signature operation does not need his own circulator lying about the zip code.

This Is Not the First Time Skid Row Has Run This Exact Scam

Los Angeles prosecutors have been down this road before.

Four men pleaded guilty or no contest to a nearly identical Skid Row scheme back in 2020, offering homeless residents cash and cigarettes for hundreds of forged signatures on state ballot petitions.

Not one of them served more than a year behind bars.

The lead defendant walked away with a suspended state prison sentence and probation, the kind of outcome that treats stealing a homeless man's identity like a paperwork violation instead of a crime.

Nevada's attorney general secured a guilty plea in a nearly identical fraudulent petition scheme around the same time.

The pattern is the same every time: find the most vulnerable, most invisible people in a city, and turn their names into a commodity for whoever is paying by the signature.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli did not soften that point when the charges came down.

"The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems, and we will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved," Essayli said.

The scheme ran from February 2026 through August 2026, according to the indictment.

All three defendants now face a federal conspiracy charge, and Brass and Price face an additional identity fraud count.

If convicted, each count carries up to five years in federal prison, more time than anyone got in the last Skid Row scheme that ran the exact same playbook.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Justice, Central District of California, "Victorville Man Arrested on Federal Indictment Alleging He Paid People to Sign Ballot Petitions Using Stolen Voter Identities," Justice.gov, September 2026.
• The Gateway Pundit, "BREAKING: FBI Nabs Skid Row Election Fraud Ringleader After Pre-Dawn Dash," The Gateway Pundit, September 10, 2026.
• LA Mag, "FBI Busts Man in Skid Row Ballot Petition Fraud Case," LA Mag, September 2026.
• Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, "Four Plead to Voter Fraud Scheme on Skid Row," da.lacounty.gov, July 29, 2020.
• Nevada Attorney General's Office, "Attorney General Laxalt and Secretary of State Cegavske Announce Guilty Plea for Fraudulent Voter Petition Scheme," ag.nv.gov, 2018.