DENVER -- Forgery charges have been filed against an Aurora man accused of submitting 48 false voter registration forms to state officials.

John Samuel MaCarthy, 27, faces four counts of forgery and one count of procuring false registration.

He's accused of submitting fake registration forms for people in Arapahoe, Jefferson and Denver counties while working for a voter registration collection business known as Choose 2 Vote. He had forged voter registration documents or falsely registered residents with the intent to defraud his Lakewood employer, said Attorney General Ken Salazar.

The 48 false registrations occurred between April 19 and April 22 and were discovered during the course of the investigation -- before they were ever filed with election authorities.

Investigators say neither the employer nor the people whose names were on the forms were aware of his activities.

No primary election races were affected.

MaCarthy is currently in Denver County Jail on unrelated charges.

The investigation was launched after clerks questioned forms listing nonexistent addresses, and others with similar signatures. They turned over 59 allegedly false registration documents.

The multi-jurisdiction investigation continues concerning a limited number of additional allegedly false Denver and Arapahoe County registration documents, and a small number of Adams County registration documents, the attorney general's office said.

The forgery charges could bring up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Procuring false registration is a misdemeanor.