Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and Secretary of the State of Connecticut (SOTS) Stephanie Thomas are accusing each other of spreading misinformation about an illegal immigrant who killed two people in a car crash, and an American citizen with the same name and birthday.

On July 13, Melissa Esperanza Ramirez, who is from Mexico but was residing in Stamford, was allegedly driving drunk and killed off-duty Bridgeport police officer Cooper Whiteside and his girlfriend, Brittany Islami. Afterwards, a purported image of her arrest warrant that had the address of a citizen who lived in New Britain and shared her name and birthday circulated on social media. That post claimed the Ramirez involved in the crash was an illegal alien who was registered to vote.

The Connecticut House Republican’s Facebook account made a post on July 29, alluding to the voting accusation and demanding a public accounting of Ramirez, including her “driving and perhaps even voting records.”

Later that day, Danbury police issued a statement clarifying that the two Melissa Esperanza Ramirezes were different women.

That’s when allegations of misinformation started flying.

On July 30, Thomas released a video saying, “What we saw play out over the last day is what election misinformation looks like in real life… A manipulated image by an outlet that honestly, my 83-year-old mother by a glance, would have known it was false,”

She went on to say, “Several elected officials questioned Connecticut’s voter rolls and our office without actually contacting our office… Every false accusation about our voter rolls chips away at public confidence in elections, making it harder for Connecticut residents to distinguish fact from fiction.”

Thomas also said that the woman who lived in New Britain had received death threats as a result of speculation, and accused “elected officials” of sharing manipulated photos. When police came to investigate the death threats, Melissa Ramirez of New Britain said she had never received any, and that the only people contacting her were journalists.

On August 7, Candelora reached out to Anthony Pollitico, an analyst hired by the SOTS Office in 2022 to combat misinformation about elections. Candelora asked Pollitico to investigate, and accused Thomas of spreading misinformation by saying that Melissa Ramirez of New Britain received death threats.

“I want to know what that misinformation officer is actually doing in the state of Connecticut. I have never been given an update status or report, so I thought this was an opportunity to test what our misinformation officer is doing, so I sent that designated person a letter to ask them to correct the record that was put out there,” Candelora told Inside Investigator. “Instead of getting a response from this officer, we got an out-of-office reply, and Secretary Thomas responded to my letter, and to date, I have never corresponded with [him]. I’ve never received anything back from the misinformation officer to indicate that he even exists or that he even received my letter.”

In a letter sent to Candelora on August 10, Thomas stood by the statements she made in the video and said, “Just because the woman is unaware of these threats does not make them untrue.”

Thomas ended her letter by accusing Candelora and Republicans of “help(ing) propagate the false link between these two unrelated individuals” in the July 29 Facebook post.

In his response, Candelora defended the Republican’s Facebook post by pointing out it did not claim that Ramirez was registered to vote, and only asked for an inquiry. He also wrote that the fact that he received the automated response from Pollitico and a letter from Thomas “raises more questions than answers.”

“I think there’s a level of distrust over whether or not people who are illegal or undocumented are registered to vote,” Candelora said. “We’re coming off of an issue that happened in New Jersey, so I could see where the public is distrusting, and I felt it’s an opportunity for the state to come forward and correct the record, rather than continue to gaslight, which frankly I felt the Secretary of State did.”

Neither Thomas nor anyone in her office responded to questions. Candelora has not heard anything from Thomas or Pollicito since the August 10 letter.

In July, news came to light that an illegal immigrant named Sead “Seyo” Cecunjanin was registered to vote. Cecunjanin first made headlines when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in late June. He was released after a public campaign.

The man registered to vote had the same address as Cecunjanin, but Cecunjanin denies that they are the same person. He pointed out the fact that the voter registration form had two names, “Sead Cecunjanin” and “Sead Cecjhaniw” on it, and a different birthday as evidence that he did not vote.

“Every false accusation about our voter rolls chips away at public confidence in elections, making it harder for Connecticut residents to distinguish fact from fiction,” Thomas said in her video statement about Ramirez. “That’s exactly why elections officials insist on evidence, verification, and due process, and not assumptions driven by headlines or politics.”

Currently, there is an ongoing trial for two people accused of stuffing hundreds of fake ballots into ballot boxes during the 2023 Democratic primary for the Bridgeport mayoral race. In the past, Thomas has said that this scandal was committed by “bad actors” and did not reflect any systemic problems in the voting process.  

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