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A Democratic candidate for county commissioner in Texas is under investigation after being accused of using fake online accounts to hurl racist attacks against himself.
Taral Patel, 30, is running as the Democratic candidate for Fort Bend County Precinct 3 commissioner. He was initially detained on June 12 for online impersonation and misrepresentation of identity, a class A misdemeanor, according to KTRK.
Search warrants have since shown connections to other fake identities, such as impersonating a district judge and one using the photo of a realtor from Pennsylvania.
Court records state that the incumbent in the race, Andy Meyers, asked in October last year that the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office investigate the source behind racist social media posts towards Patel, who’s accused of using fake Facebook accounts using others’ photos. Patel previously served as the chief of staff to Fort Bend County Judge KP George.
The investigation started not long after a long Facebook post in which Patel accused Meyers’s supporters of being behind the racist attacks.
Patel turned the posts into a collage and sent them out in a press release, seemingly in an effort to garner support.
“Was he even born here? Probably communist,” one of the comments says.
“I am against fake gods and their worshippers winning office in [a] Christian Nation,” another adds. “I am with Meyers ALL THE WAY because he serves Jesus unlike Patel and his followers who worship Monkey and Elephant.”
Investigators with the DA’s office connected one of the accounts using the name “Antonio Scalywag” after they sent subpoenas to Facebook and Google. Search warrants state that Patel also impersonated a Fort Bend County staffer and created another Facebook account that had interactions with the Scalywag account, using the real name of Surendran Patel, a district court judge.
In one of the warrants, investigators connected Taral Patel to the email address “theonlydangerdog@gmail.com.” The address was used to open a Facebook account under the name “Jane Donnie,” using the photo of the Pennsylvania realtor. The realtor told ABC13 that the account wasn’t his.
Patel hasn’t spoken out about the allegations and remains in the race for commissioner.
The Independent has attempted to contact Patel’s attorney for comment.
