Zebulon man sentenced 4 months in prison for illegal voting

A Zebulon man was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison for illegally voting in two different elections, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Roberto Hernandez-Cuarenta, 57, was convicted of two counts of illegal voting by an alien and was sentenced to four months in prison. He has already served the time.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Hernandez-Cuarenta knowingly illegally voted in the 2012 and 2016 general elections.

Alamance County residents arrested, jailed and charged with a felony. For voting

Hernandez-Cuarenta had status as a permanent seasonal agricultural worker, but he was not a naturalized U.S citizen. Hernandez-Cuarenta is still a citizen of Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"The right to vote is a precious privilege available only to citizens of the United States," said Robert J. Higdon Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in a press release. "When a non-citizen votes in a federal election, it serves to dilute and devalue the vote of American citizens and places the decision making authority of the American electorate in the hands of those who have no right to make those choices."