The Democratic challenger for Fort Bend County Precinct 3 commissioner in Texas has been arrested for allegedly creating a fake social media account to direct racist comments at himself.
Mr. Patel is now facing a third-degree felony charge of online impersonation and a Class A misdemeanor charge for misrepresentation of identity.
One of the account names, “Anthony Scalywag,” caught the attention of Mr. Meyers, who informed investigators that he recognized the account as someone who had previously attacked him.
An investigation was launched the following month, which traced one of the accounts back to Mr. Patel, as records show. The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office subpoenaed Facebook and Google to disclose identifying account information for the Facebook account and email address of “Antonio Scalywag.”
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The account data was found to match Mr. Patel’s address, phone number, Texas driver’s license number, IP address, and additional personal information. According to the warrant, the grand jury subpoena to Google also returned billing information that listed a credit card number under the name “Taral Patel.”
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the profile picture used for the fake account belonged to another individual and was allegedly obtained without permission.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Patel previously served as chief of staff for Fort Bend County Judge KP George from 2018 to 2021. He also worked as a law clerk for the Department of Justice and was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve in his administration as a liaison for the White House, as stated on Mr. Patel’s campaign website.
Mr. Eberle likened the incident to that of Jussie Smollett, expressing that residents of Bend County deserve better from a commissioner. He wrote, “Whether Republican or Democrat, such tactics should be unequivocally condemned by all who value integrity and accountability in politics.”
Mr. Patel was arrested on June 12 and was released on bond the following day, with bail set at $20,000 for the felony charge and $2,500 for the misdemeanor charge.
He is scheduled to appear in court on July 22.
NTD reached out to Mr. Patel and Mr. Meyer’s office for comments but did not receive a response before the time of publication.
From NTD News
