ROANOKE, VA – Bishop Jamaal Jackson, pastor of ReFreshing Church in Roanoke, is facing four felony counts of election fraud.
He ran for Roanoke City Council as a Democrat in 2024 but dropped out of the race before the election.
A grand jury indictment from April 7 now accuses him of ‘unlawfully and feloniously’ committing election fraud on or around March 17, 2024, by willfully making a false statement on an election form, which is a class five felony according to Virginia Code.
We tried to reach Bishop Jackson for his side of the story, but he has not responded.
His attorney, Cathy Reynolds, did respond, but doesn’t have a comment at this time.
Registrar Nicholas Ocampo stated, “The office of voter registration and elections takes every claim of election fraud seriously. We turn over any findings to the commonwealth’s attorney, as we did in this case with Bishop Jackson.”
I sat down with Phazhon Nash, a current city council member and democrat, who was in the race against Jackson.
“I knocked on doors for my signatures, I started knocking on doors in January, when it was still cold a year ago. I just don’t like people trying to take shortcuts or cheat the system. So, I believe justice will prevail,” Nash said.
Nash says it puts doubt in the hearts of voters.
“I hate when this stuff happens because people often times have a mistrust in the electoral process and in elections and in campaigns. Whenever stuff like this happens, I just think it’s a shame,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jackson is making waves for yet another reason. This time, on social media with a post promoting an Easter church event called “When Jesus rolled up!”—a live 4/20 resurrection experience.
The post now has hundreds of shares and comments.
A hearing in Jackson’s case is set for April 24.