Federal agents arrived at a Los Angeles flophouse before sunrise on a September morning to arrest a man prosecutors say ran one of the largest ballot harvesting operations in recent California history. He was already gone.
Marc Daniels, known on the streets of Skid Row as "the Lord," slipped out around 5 a.m., roughly two hours before FBI agents knocked on his door, the New York Post reported. The 58-year-old now faces a federal indictment alleging he orchestrated a scheme to collect, fill out, and submit mail-in ballots on behalf of homeless residents across downtown Los Angeles, targeting people who often had no idea their votes were being cast.
The indictment, unsealed Wednesday in the Central District of California, charges Daniels with 18 counts, including conspiracy to deprive citizens of civil rights under the federal election statutes, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum of more than 90 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors allege Daniels built a network of roughly a dozen "runners" who canvassed encampments and shelters across Skid Row, collecting personal information from homeless individuals under the guise of helping them access social services. The runners then allegedly used that information to register the individuals to vote and to request mail-in ballots sent to addresses Daniels controlled, including P.O. boxes and a storefront on San Pedro Street that doubled as an informal community center.
The scheme allegedly ran from at least January 2024 through August 2026, spanning two federal election cycles. Prosecutors say Daniels and his associates submitted more than 8,000 fraudulent ballot requests during that period. The indictment does not specify how many completed ballots were actually returned to election officials, but it alleges that at least 2,700 ballots were filled out and mailed.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Akil Davis said in a statement that the case "strikes at the core of the democratic process." He added that the investigation began after the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder flagged an unusual cluster of ballot requests tied to a small number of addresses in 2024.
The indictment paints a picture of a man who wielded real influence in one of America's most desperate neighborhoods. Daniels allegedly provided food, cigarettes, and small cash payments to homeless individuals in exchange for their signatures and personal data. Several of the victims told investigators they never intended to vote and did not know ballots had been submitted in their names.
"He told me he was signing me up for benefits. I didn't know nothing about no voting."
That statement came from a Skid Row resident identified in court filings only as Victim 3, who told FBI agents he had encountered Daniels outside a shelter on East 5th Street in late 2024.
Prosecutors say Daniels targeted individuals with severe mental illness and substance use disorders, people unlikely to notice or report that their identities had been used. The indictment describes one instance in which a runner allegedly registered a man who had been hospitalized and unconscious at the time the registration form was signed. Election integrity concerns like these have surfaced across the country, including in recent voter fraud prosecutions in Wisconsin that exposed similar ballot schemes targeting vulnerable populations.
Daniels had been living in a single-room occupancy hotel on South Main Street, a grim block lined with tents and shopping carts. FBI agents secured an arrest warrant and planned a pre-dawn operation for September 10. Surveillance teams set up outside the building overnight.
But Daniels left the building at approximately 5:07 a.m., carrying a duffel bag and wearing a dark hoodie, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the operation. The surveillance team was not yet in its final staging position. By the time agents entered the building at 7:15 a.m., his room was empty.
As of Wednesday evening, Daniels remained at large. The FBI issued a public fugitive notice and offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Davis urged anyone with knowledge of Daniels' whereabouts to contact the bureau's Los Angeles field office.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether Daniels had advance knowledge of the arrest operation. The law enforcement source told the Post that investigators are examining whether someone tipped him off, though no evidence of a leak has been established.
The indictment does not allege that Daniels worked on behalf of any political party or candidate. Prosecutors describe the operation as financially motivated. Daniels allegedly received payments from at least two local political operatives who are not named as defendants but are identified as "Co-Conspirator A" and "Co-Conspirator B." Those individuals allegedly paid Daniels between $5 and $10 per completed ballot, according to the indictment.
The case lands in the middle of a heated national debate over mail-in voting security. California law permits third-party ballot collection, a practice critics call "ballot harvesting," but it requires the voter's knowledge and consent. Prosecutors allege Daniels had neither. The legal fight over mail-in ballot rules has played out at the federal level as well, with a federal judge recently lifting the last injunction on restrictions that could reshape how mail-in voting operates heading into future elections.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at a press conference that the case should send a message.
"Every fraudulent ballot cancels out the legitimate vote of a real citizen. This office will prosecute ballot fraud aggressively, regardless of who benefits politically."
Estrada declined to say whether additional indictments are expected but confirmed the investigation is ongoing.
Daniels is no stranger to law enforcement. Court records show prior convictions for grand theft and forgery in Los Angeles County, with his most recent state prison term ending in 2019. After his release, he returned to Skid Row and established himself as a fixer and informal power broker, according to the indictment and interviews the Post conducted with residents.
Several residents described Daniels as someone who could get things done on the street, from arranging shelter beds to settling disputes between encampment residents. The nickname "the Lord" was not self-appointed irony. Multiple residents told the Post that Daniels insisted on the title and expected deference.
"He ran that block," said one shelter worker who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Everybody knew him. If you needed something, you went to Marc." The worker said he was unaware of any ballot scheme but was "not surprised" by the allegations.
The pattern of exploiting positions of local influence to manipulate elections is not unique to this case. A former New Jersey mayor recently faced charges over allegedly forged ballot petition signatures in a case that raised similar questions about how trusted community figures can abuse the electoral process.
The indictment leaves several critical questions unanswered. Investigators have not said whether the 2,700 ballots allegedly submitted were counted by election officials or flagged and rejected. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's office declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
Authorities have also not publicly confirmed the identities of Co-Conspirator A and Co-Conspirator B or their connections to any campaigns, PACs, or party committees. The indictment describes payments flowing from those individuals to Daniels but does not trace the money further upstream.
The question of how Daniels obtained the personal information needed to register voters and request ballots also remains partially unresolved. The indictment describes runners collecting data in person, but it also references "lists" of homeless individuals that Daniels allegedly obtained from an unspecified social services database. Investigators will need to determine whether any government employee provided unauthorized access to that data.
Separate questions about voter identity verification have emerged in other states. In Minnesota, activists who posed as voters on camera now face possible criminal referrals, underscoring how thin the guardrails can be when bad actors test the system.
The FBI's fugitive notice describes Daniels as 5-foot-11, approximately 210 pounds, with a shaved head and a tattoo of a crown on the left side of his neck. He has ties to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, according to the bureau.
U.S. Marshals have joined the search. A law enforcement source told the Post that investigators believe Daniels may have left Los Angeles County before the arrest attempt, possibly by bus. His duffel bag and early departure suggest he may have planned to run.
Daniels' court-appointed attorney has not been identified publicly. If arrested, he will face an initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles. Magistrate judges in the Central District typically hold detention hearings within 72 hours of arrest for fugitive defendants, and prosecutors are expected to argue that Daniels' flight makes him a serious risk to abscond.
The case also raises questions about ballot security infrastructure in California's most populous county. Election officials in other jurisdictions have taken aggressive steps to secure ballots from third-party interference, including a Riverside County sheriff who refused to back down after seizing ballots in a dispute that reached California's highest court.
California's ballot collection laws remain among the most permissive in the nation. Under state law, any person may collect and return a voter's completed ballot, provided the voter designates them to do so. Critics have long argued that this framework invites exactly the kind of abuse prosecutors now allege Daniels carried out.
Supporters of third-party collection say the practice helps elderly, disabled, and homebound voters participate. But the Daniels indictment describes a scheme in which the voters themselves were not participants at all. They were raw material.
Whether this case prompts legislative action in Sacramento remains to be seen. For now, a man who allegedly built a small empire out of stolen identities and forged ballots is in the wind, and 2,700 votes may have been cast by someone who never asked for them.
The system that let it happen is still open for business.
