Fact check: Campaign attack ad uses fake mugshot, and the candidate wasn’t convicted
.jpg "A Democratic television ad shows a photo of Republican candidate Brian Echevarria altered to look like a police mugshot.")
In the days leading up to Election Day on Nov. 8, television attack ads are a daily staple. One in the Charlotte area features a mugshot of a Republican candidate for the General Assembly — only it’s not his mugshot.
The ad shows a picture of Brian Echevarria framed to look like a jail booking photo, with his name in letters on a board below his face.
Republicans and Democrats have traded barbs over attack ads against each other, which have been more frequent in closer races. In New Hanover County, a state Senate race campaign ad resulted in a lawsuit and an ad being taken down.
Now Echevarria, the Republican running against Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams for House District 73 in Cabarrus County, is calling out the ad depicting him as a criminal as false, NC Tribune first reported.
The ad tells voters not to trust Echevarria, cites the bad check and shows a photo of him for 15 seconds that looks like a police mugshot. The second half of the ad includes Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper telling viewers why they should vote for Staton-Williams instead.
The ad is paid for by Staton-Williams’ campaign. Cooper has appeared in other television ads for Democrats in competitive races this year.
In a tweet and video posted on Oct. 28, Echevarria criticized Democrats, including Cooper for being in the ad. He said the ad framing him as a criminal is racist. Echevarria, who is Black and Hispanic, said he has never been arrested.
Echevarria said the check bounced two years after he graduated high school.
According to a News & Observer records search, Echevarria was charged in Leon County, Florida, in 1998, when he was 20 years old. He was not convicted, and says he was not arrested for the charge, either. A misdemeanor charge of “passing a worthless bank check” was disposed of in court the following year, according to records. Court records didn’t explain how it was disposed of.
An email to Staton-Williams’ campaign requesting comment was not returned. Her campaign previously cited the Florida check charge to WRAL when asked about a similar ad published online.
Echevarria’s campaign says the image used in Staton-Williams’ ad about him came from a video of Echevarria he posted on social media.
Democrats are not the only ones accused of doctoring images this election season.
‘Defund the Police’ images
Republicans have been criticized for Photoshopping images of three Democratic candidates in mailers that replaced the images on their T-shirts with “Defund the Police,” a message which the candidates say they do not support.
State Rep. Ricky Hurtado, who is running for reelection and was one of the Democrats in a Photoshopped attack ad mailer, called the ad against him misinformation and distasteful, and said it should be illegal, The N&O previously reported. That mailer was paid for by Carolina Leadership Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(4).
State House Republican Caucus Director Stephen Wiley criticized Democrats for the attack ad against Echevarria.
“They’re upset about three Photoshopped mail pieces when they’re making (expletive) up. It’s bananas,” Wiley said.
Hurtado told The N&O in September that he and other state lawmakers would be open to legislation about false ads.
“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, no one wants to see attack ads against them that are rooted in lies, that include falsehoods,” Hurtado said then.
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