Police Close Election Fraud Investigation Into Congressman's Son; No Charges Filed

Patrick Moran, the congressman's son who was caught on tape seemingly giving advice on how to skirt voter identification laws, will not face any criminal charges, the Arlington County Police Department announced Thursday.

Authorities have concluded their three-month investigation into election offense allegations against Moran, son of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat who represents parts of Northern Virginia.

The allegations stemmed from a video released in late October by conservative activist James O'Keefe, whose methods and productions have been called into question in the past.

The younger Moran resigned from his father's reelection campaign within hours of the video's release. Moran, 23, lives in South Arlington.

Patrick Moran and his father's campaign fully cooperated with the investigation, according to police.

Despite repeated police requests for assistance from O'Keefe, none was provided, police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said.

Arlington's lead detective made multiple requests for the full, unedited video — raw video without text or anything else added — along with the identity of the videographer. They were not provided.

"Who knows what else could be on the video? Our detective wanted to request those two things, and that party failed to comply," Sternbeck said.

"We want the full version. That's our job, to do a thorough investigation. And that's a huge piece of the process right there."

Virginia is a one-party consent state, which means the videographer could not have been charged, Sternbeck said. Essentially, state law allows one person to film another without their knowledge or consent, but a third party could not film two people without their consent.

The Moran campaign said it did not commit election fraud, Sternbeck said.

Federal authorities were not involved in this investigation.

Police, along with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office for Arlington and Falls Church and the state Attorney General's Office, launched their investigation in late October following the release of the video on YouTube.

Jim Moran subsequently released a statement saying his son was learning a "tough lesson" following a "serious error in judgment."

In an unrelated case, Patrick Moran pleaded guilty in December to an assault charge stemming from a domestic violence incident.

Moran, in a letter to Patch, said the police report on that incident contained "grossly inaccurate details" that were the result of him being belligerent to the officer who filed it.

Read more:

Moran's Son Resigns from Campaign Following 'Error in Judgment'

Arlington Police Looking Into 'Every Component' of Moran Video

Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli Begins Investigating Moran Video

Letter to the Editor: Patrick Moran Responds to Assault Charge