A Russian citizen who filed 132 fake voter registration applications in Pinellas County was sentenced to six years in federal prison Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber handed down the sentence at the Sam M. Gibbons federal courthouse in Tampa, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Dmitry Shushlebin, 45, had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to submit fraudulent voter registration applications, false statements and aggravated identity theft.

Fake Registrations Funded Identity Theft Scheme

The applications, submitted in early 2023 to the office of Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus, were filed in the names of people who did not exist. Court records show the scheme was not about swaying elections. Shushlebin used the fabricated identities to apply for credit cards, loans and hunting and fishing licenses, stealing roughly $477,000. Much of the money was wired to Russia and never recovered.

Uzbek Accomplice Avoids Prison Time

A co-conspirator, Sanjar Jamilov, 34, an Uzbek citizen living in St. Petersburg, helped submit the applications. Jamilov pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and received no prison time after cooperating with investigators. He was placed in the custody of immigration officials for deportation proceedings.

Suspicious Patterns Exposed the Scheme

Marcus' office flagged the batch as suspicious. All 132 applications arrived in identical envelopes with address labels sharing the same font, format and alignment. Each address contained a misplaced comma and a lowercase "l" in the abbreviation for Florida. None listed middle names or driver's license numbers. Some shared the same dates of birth, and the Social Security numbers ran in sequential order.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service took over the investigation, which unraveled Shushlebin's broader fraud operation.

"He's certainly somebody that should have known better. He didn't have to do this crime," Barber said at sentencing.

Shushlebin, who had lived in Miami after arriving in the U.S. in 2013 on a temporary visa, will likely face deportation after completing his prison term, according to the Times.

Pinellas Voter Registration Deadline Approaches

Pinellas County's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 5. Residents who wish to vote by mail must request a ballot by 5 p.m. on Oct. 22.