Councilman Michael Jackson turns over cellphone codes in Paterson election fraud case

PATERSON — Councilman Michael Jackson has provided three cellphone passcodes to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office for its investigation targeting him for possible witness tampering, a judge announced Monday.

State investigators seized Jackson’s phone in May 2023 as part of a probe into whether he tampered with witnesses, in the attorney general’s long-delayed election fraud case against Jackson from 2020.

But state detectives could not get access to the phone’s contents because the councilman refused to provide his security code, saying he feared that investigators would plant false evidence on his device. Jackson subsequently lost a series of court decisions that resulted in his being ordered to turn over the passcode.

After Monday’s court session, Jackson told Paterson Press he turned over more than five possible passcodes several weeks ago. He said he couldn’t remember which was the right code. The state then asked him to narrow it down to three passcodes.

Jackson on Monday said he was being unfairly targeted by the Attorney General’s Office because of his track record of opposition to Mayor Andre Sayegh. The councilman asserted that authorities should be investigating the large increase in vote-by-mail ballots for Paterson’s May 14 ward council seat elections.

Separate cases involving Mendez, Khalique

The next court session in Jackson’s case has been scheduled for June 24. That’s one day before the fourth anniversary of the attorney general's announcement of criminal election fraud charges against Jackson, 3rd Ward Councilman Alex Mendez , and two campaign workers for 2nd Ward Councilman Shahin Khalique, including his brother Shelim.

The state quietly dropped the charges against the Khalique campaign workers in 2022, keeping that information under wraps until one of the accused made the dismissal public in September 2023.

The original case against Mendez is still pending, along with a new batch of charges involving the 2020 election that the attorney general filed last fall against Mendez, his wife and several campaign workers.

Mendez’s next court date in his case is scheduled for June 3.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Councilman Michael Jackson turns over cellphone codes in Paterson election fraud case