A Democrat political candidate in Texas has been arrested for allegedly creating sock-puppet social-media accounts to attack himself and smear his political opponent.
Taral Patel, who is running for county commissioner in Fort Bend County Precinct 3, in Texas, was arrested last week after an investigation was launched by his opponent in the race, incumbent Andy Meyers.
In October of last year, Patel made a long Facebook post alleging that he had been the victim of racists attacks online. Included with the post was a collage of the abuse he had supposedly received. One post called him a “sand negroid subhuman” and told him to “go back to Bombay,” while another blasted him for “trying to TAKE AWAY my FREEDOM and GUNS!,” before ending “REMEMBER THE ALAMO.”
Image: Facebook / Taral Patel
Patel blamed the attacks on Trump and his supporters, including, by extension, Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers.
“These hateful images (a small sample attached here) are from a place of deep and misguided fear – incited by people like former President Donald Trump, and today’s extremist Republican party fear that immigrants are ‘taking their jobs’ and setting out to hurt our own communities.” Patel wrote.
When Meyers read the post, he notice that one of the names of the supposed abusers posted in the collage was “Antonio Scalywag,” an account that had also abused him online. Meyers then requested an investigation into the truth of Patel’s claims.
Investigators subpoenaed Facebook and Google and discovered that the Scalywag profile was indeed being run by Patel.
NEW: Taral Patel (D), candidate for commissioner in Fort Bend County, TX and former Biden appointee was arrested and charged for faking his own racist hate mail. He allegedly created fake accounts and would leave “racist” comments on his own posts.
Once again, the demand for… pic.twitter.com/oJvrGfxk0a
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 17, 2024
On Wednesday, Patel was arrested for the felony of online impersonation in the third degree, and a Class A misdemeanor charge for misrepresentation of identity.
After posting bond for the crimes on Thursday morning, he is due to appear in court on 22 July.
According to Patel’s campaign website, he has worked in a variety of political roles, including working for the DoJ’s Criminal Division in the Public Integrity Section. He also claims to have been appointed by Biden to serve in the Office of White House Liaison. A photo posted on Twitter shows Patel with Joe and Jill Biden.
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