About 475 damaged ballots retrieved from burned drop box in Washington state, auditor says

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — About 475 damaged ballots were retrieved from a ballot box that was burned early Monday in southwest Washington, a county official said Tuesday.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said workers on Wednesday will begin searching through the damaged ballots for voter information in order to contact them about getting a new ballot. He said officials believe that although damaged, the workers will be able to pull voter information from the ballots.

The damaged ballots are separate from an unknown number that were destroyed, Kimsey said.

Incendiary devices damaged and destroyed hundreds of ballots at a drop box in Vancouver, Washington, and damaged three ballots at a box in Portland, Oregon, in what federal, state and local officials have decried as an attack on democracy before a heated Election Day.

Authorities have said that enough material from the incendiary devices was recovered to link the two fires on Monday, as well as an Oct. 8 incident, when an incendiary device was placed at a different ballot drop box in Vancouver. No ballots were damaged in that incident.

Surveillance images captured a Volvo pulling up to the drop box in Portland just before security personnel nearby discovered a fire inside the box, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner has said. The incendiary devices were attached to the outside of the boxes.

The FBI is among the agencies investigating. U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman and Greg Austin, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office, said in a joint statement Tuesday that they wanted to assure residents that they are working together to investigate the fires and will work to hold the person or people responsible “fully accountable.”

No arrests had been announced as of Tuesday evening.

The fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished quickly thanks to a suppression system inside the box and a nearby security guard, police said.

Several hours later, another fire was discovered at a transit center drop box across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

The ballot box in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system inside, but that failed to prevent hundreds of ballots from burning, according to Kimsey. He has urged voters who dropped their ballots in the transit center box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact his office for a replacement ballot.

The office is increasing how frequently it collects ballots and changing collection times to the evening, Kimsey said, to keep the ballot boxes from remaining full of ballots overnight when similar crimes are considered more likely to occur.

Officials in at least two other counties in Washington — including in King County, where Seattle is located, — announced Tuesday that ballot drop boxes will be checked more often up until Election Day.

Election workers collect ballots from a newly placed ballot drop box outside the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A voter drops off a ballot for the 2024 election in a newly installed drop box at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore., after the pervious drop box was damaged. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Police tape surrounds a ballot drop box damaged by a fire on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (Monika Spykerman/The Columbian via AP)

Police tape surrounds a ballot drop box damaged by a fire on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (Monika Spykerman/The Columbian via AP)

A damaged bin that was in a ballot drop box is displayed at the Multnomah County Elections Office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

In this image made from a video provided by KGW8, authorities investigate smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (KGW8 via AP)

In this image made from a video provided by KGW8, authorities investigate smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (KGW8 via AP)

A damaged ballot drop box is displayed during a news conference at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A person drops off their 2024 election ballot at a newly installed drop box outside the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday ordered rapper Pooh Shiesty to remain in custody on kidnapping charges after allegedly pulling a gun during a contract dispute involving rapper Gucci Mane's record label.

Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver during a hearing in Dallas. Prosecutors have also charged eight others over the alleged January confrontation at a music studio, where the victims were allegedly robbed at gunpoint.

Prosecutors have declined to name the victims, and an FBI affidavit attached to a criminal complaint only refers to them by their initials. One victim, R.D., is described as the owner of 1017 Records, the label belonging to Gucci Mane, whose legal name is Radric Delantic Davis.

“I find that the weight of the evidence against you is strong,” Toliver told Pooh Shiesty during the hearing.

She noted that the rapper had a criminal history and had violated a home confinement order following a prior firearms conspiracy conviction in Florida.

During the hearing, Bradford Cohen, the rapper's attorney, raised questions about much of the prosecution's evidence. “The FBI doesn’t take three months to arrest someone if they believe everything that was said on the night that it occurred,” Cohen said.

Prosecutors have accused the rapper, who was arrested last week, of arranging the music studio meeting in Dallas to discuss the terms of his contract with 1017 Records.

According to an affidavit attached to a criminal complaint, Pooh Shiesty had asked to speak with the record label owner in a recording room. He then allegedly produced contract termination paperwork and pulled out what appeared to be an AK-style pistol while forcing the label owner to sign.

The rapper then took the man’s wedding ring, watch, earrings and cash, according to the affidavit.

Pooh Shiesty is from Memphis, Tennessee, but he is believed to have been recently living in a high-rise apartment in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, according to the affidavit. Several of the defendants traveled from Memphis to Dallas ahead of the meeting, according to the affidavit.

Gucci Mane is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta rappers T.I. and Jeezy. He emerged in the mid-2000s with his breakout single “Icy” and went on to build a vast catalog.

Attorney Bradford Cohen speaks outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building after a detention hearing for his client rapper Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., in Dallas, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Attorney Bradford Cohen speaks to reporters after a detention hearing in Federal Court for his client rapper Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., in Dallas, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Attorney Bradford Cohen, center, speaks with fellow lawyers Saam Zangeneh, left, and John Helms after a detention hearing in Federal Court for their client rapper Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., in Dallas, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)