An Ocala woman who forged signatures on nearly 200 petitions related to a casino gaming initiative has been sentenced to over four years in prison.
On Wednesday, Maria Guadalupe Bautista, 26, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Earlier this year, a Marion County jury found her guilty of 13 counts of fraudulent use of personal information.
According to court records, the then-24-year-old Bautista was arrested in 2023 after investigators discovered a petition fraud operation in which she participated, which used fraudulent petition signatures from various individuals, including an elected government official.
In November 2021, investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement met with the Marion County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) to discuss a charge of “widespread fraud.” SOE personnel discovered hundreds of petition forms that were suspected of being fraudulent.
Specifically, the fraudulent petition papers were tied to a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing limited casino gaming.
“This fraud is a way to run around the state’s legislative process and turn Florida’s Constitution into a playground for political gamesmanship, and it’s unacceptable,” the attorney general said.
According to the FDLE, a lady named Bautista who works as a paid petition circulator turned in 191 suspected phony forms.
The FDLE launched an investigation and confirmed that 16 of Bautista’s petitions contained false signatures. According to the FDLE, two of the petitions were for people who died before the date on the signed papers.
Law enforcement authorities approached Bautista in Gainesville. During an interview, she informed investigators that she started working for a political action committee after seeing an advertisement for an open position on Craigslist.
When investigators showed Bautista one of the bogus petition forms, she acknowledged that her signature appeared on it. The Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office stated that this form contained the voter information of a Marion County elected official.
Bautista was arrested based on probable cause, and she was brought into custody and lodged into Marion County Jail in August 2023. She was first charged with 16 charges of fraud involving personal identity information.
The case against Bautista went to trial in July 2025. Jurors finally found her guilty on 13 counts of personal identification fraud but acquitted her on the other three accusations.
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