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Embattled Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia re-elected after recall vote

FALL RIVER, Mass. — Embattled Mayor Jasiel Correia was re-elected on Tuesday, after a recall vote was held.

WPRI-TV reports that while most Fall River voters chose to recall Correia, he still ended up being elected back into office.

The 27-year-old Correia was arrested last October, on more than a dozen counts of wire fraud and filing tax returns.

The charges prompted a recall election on Tuesday, which followed a vote "no confidence" from the Fall River City Council. Organizers in November said they collected more than 4,000 signatures that called for Correia's resignation.

Correia is accused of spending more than $230,000 collected from investors for an app he created. He's facing federal fraud charges. Correia has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Earlier this month, Correia withdrew a request to repay investors.

WPRI reports that four candidates challenged Correia in the recall election: Councilman Joe Camara, School Committee member Paul Coogan, school administrator Kyle Riley and Director of Development for the South Coastal Legal Services Erica Scott-Pacheco.

There were two questions on the ballot, WPRI reports. The first asked whether or not the voter wanted to recall Correia. The second asked the voter who they would want as mayor instead.

Since each voter has the same ballot, they could still answer the second question no matter how they voted on the first question, WPRI reports.

The unofficial election results for the first question show 7,829 people voted to recall Correia, while 4,911 voted not to recall him.

On the second question, Correia garnered 4,808 votes for mayor or 35 percent of the vote; Paul E. Coogan got 4,567 or 34 percent of the vote; Camara was the next-closest vote-getter with 1,971 votes.

It marked the second time in five years that Fall River residents were deciding on the early ouster of a sitting mayor. William Flanagan was recalled in 2014 by voters angry over trash collection fees and fire department layoffs.

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