7th out-of-state petition circulator arrested in ongoing Lancaster County fraud investigation

LINCOLN — A seventh out-of-state circulator suspected of gathering fraudulent petition signatures in Nebraska has been arrested.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday afternoon that Sergio Lacadin, 33, of St. Louis, turned himself in to authorities Sunday and is in custody. He follows six other out-of-state circulators arrested in the ongoing fraud investigation, which Lancaster County officials are leading.

The six other arrested circulators are:

• Jessica Davis, 24, of Boynton Beach, Florida
• David Alijandro Johnson, 25, of Irvington, New Jersey
• Nathan Kirschbaum, 32, of Las Vegas
• Jason Luciano, 32, of Las Vegas
• Ryan C. McKinney, 42, of St. Louis
• Michael Smith, 28, of St. Louis

Except for Smith, each faces two Class IV felony charges of falsely swearing to their circulator’s oath that they collected valid signatures and witnessed every signer sign before them. Smith faces three such charges.

A Class IV felony carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and 12 months’ post-release supervision, a $10,000 fine or both.

Lancaster County election officials first flagged thousands of possibly fraudulent signatures for law enforcement. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the investigation spans at least eight different petitions for five different 2026 petition campaigns.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, Secretary of State Bob Evnen, Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen and Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet are calling for legal changes regarding how petition circulators operate in Nebraska. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has said the investigation marks a “sad period in Nebraska history.”

The general election is Nov. 3.