A Chicago publicist who worked with R. Kelly and Kanye West and a suburban Lutheran minister are among those indicted late Monday for their involvement in a scheme to pressure an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, to falsely admit to committing election fraud in 2020.

Trevian C. Kutti and Stephen Cliffgard Lee are two of the 19 people charged in the 41-count indictment accusing former President Donald Trump and his allies of a criminal scheme to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election.

Kutti is a publicist based in Chicago who also recently worked as an Illinois pot lobbyist. Lee, a 70-year-old Lutheran minister, is pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park.

Kutti and Lee both face three charges for conspiring to commit solicitation of false statements and writings, influencing witnesses and violating Georgia’s RICO Act, the state’s racketeering law.

Lee was charged with an additional two counts of criminal intent to commit influencing witnesses.

Kutti and Lee were accused of attempting to influence the same election worker multiple times in December 2020 and January 2021 in Fulton County, Georgia.

The nearly 100-page indictment alleges Kutti, Lee and other co-conspirators tried to intimidate election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely confess to election crimes she did not commit. Freeman helped count ballots at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on election night.

Trump and his supporters accused Freeman and her daughter of stuffing voting boxes with ballots brought into the arena in suitcases.

On multiple days in December 2020, Lee showed up at Freeman’s home, pretending to offer help and trying to persuade her to change her official testimony about the election results, according to the indictment.

On January 4, 2021, Kutti was recruited to travel from Chicago to Atlanta to also attempt to sway Freeman, the charges allege.

That day, Kutti unsuccessfully tried to visit Freeman at her home. Kutti falsely claimed to a neighbor she was a crisis manager there to help Freeman. She later called Freeman to tell her she was in danger, the indictment said.

Also on Jan. 4, Kutti met with Freeman at the Cobb County Police Department for an hour to offer her help and tell her she needed protection, all attempts to influence her testimony, according to the indictment.

The indictment also lists times when Kutti and Lee communicated with each other and different people facing charges about the conspiracy to change election results.

David Shestokas, the lawyer representing Lee, declined to comment on the charges. Kutti could not immediately be reached for comment.

Lee has been the pastor of Living Word Lutheran Church since at least 2021. Church president Neal Hartz declined to comment Tuesday about Lee or the charges, but said he was still pastor of the church.

”All of that is political crap that you people are pulling off. I’m tired of it,” Hartz said.

A livestreamed video of Sunday’s church service showed Lee as pastor. Lee is a former California police sergeant and U.S. Navy investigator. 

Last year, he was called the “the Ground Zero chaplain” for his work with first responders after the 9/11 attacks when he endorsed Republican congressional candidate James Marter of Illinois’ 14th District.

In the endorsement speech for Marter, Lee said he has been a missionary in Liberia and was a consultant in chaplaincy in Nicaragua and Russia. He said he’s responded to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

Lee could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a 2022 interview with the Reuters, Lee did not dispute he pressured Freeman but would not say who sent him.