Mayor of St. Louis suburb charged in election fraud case

The 81-year-old mayor of a St. Louis suburb was charged Thursday with submitting fraudulent absentee voter applications in what prosecutors say was an effort to illegally influence the city’s municipal elections. Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins is charged with four counts of committing an election offense and one forgery count. The charges were filed by Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who was assigned to the case as special prosecutor at the request of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.