Taral Patel, the Democratic candidate in the upcoming election for Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner and a former chief of staff to County Judge KP George, is accused by law enforcement authorities of creating a fake Fakebook account, using the photograph of another Fort Bend County resident, in order to post false, racist messages about himself and others related to the campaign.
Patel, 30, is also accused of creating an email account under another false identity to send fake messages about Andy Meyers, the Republican incumbent Precinct 3 Commissioner, and Abrahim Javed, one of four other Democratic candidates in the March primary. Patel scored a slim majority in the race and is slated to run against Meyers in November.
Patel was arrested by Texas Rangers at his Sugar Land residence Wednesday, according to the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office. The formal charges are online impersonation, a third-degree felony, and misrepresentation of identity, a Class A misdemeanor. After being booked in the Fort Bend County Jail, he is free after posting two bail bonds totaling $22,500. An initial court date is set for July 22 in the 240th District Court.
Patel served as George's chief of staff from 2019-2021. Before formally announcing his campaign in May 2023, he served for about two years in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and in the Biden administration's Office of the White House Liaison. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School.
According to a 16-page affidavit released Thursday evening, Evett Kelly, an investigator with the Public Integrity Division of the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, was contacted in October 2023 by Meyers, who requested an investigation of the source of social media posts included in a press release and a campaign email sent out a month earlier by Patel's campaign. The materials included screenshots of social media postings, with the names redacted, that contained racist and xenophobic remarks about Patel's Indian heritage and Hindu faith.
According to the affidavit, Meyers told Kelly that he was able to locate the original, unredacted social media posts and saw that were attributed to two names: "Antonio Scalywag" and "Paul Rosentein." Meyers told the investigator that those names had been associated with social media posts and emails attacking him before Patel entered the Precinct 3 race, when he was still living in the Washington, D.C. area, according to the affidavit. Meyers told Kelly that he had hired a private investigator, who was unable to locate any Fort Bend County residents with those names.
In the affidavit, Kelly writes that she located a "Antonio Scalywag" Facebook account with a profile photo of a man and a woman. Using Internet searches, she was able to locate a Facebook page of a user residing in Fort Bend County. She contacted the man, who told Kelly that the photo was of him and his wife, and that he had been contacted online by someone who told him that his image was being used by a fake account. The man told Kelly he believed the messages posted by the "Antonio Scalywag" account were harmful to his reputation.
Using other Internet and law enforcement tools, Kelly writes, she was able to trace the false accounts to Patel's cellular phone and to Internet provider addresses used by him, both in the Washington, D.C. area and at his Sugar Land address. According to the affidavit, Patel's alleged activities, which were made "with intent to injure a candidate or influence the result of an election." stretched from September 2023 to May of this year.
On Thursday afternoon, Judge KP George, Patel's former boss who endorsed him in the Democratic primary, issued a public statement about Patel's arrest.
"As a public servant, I address the recent events involving a former employee with a deep sense of concern. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, I emphasize the vital importance of upholding the principles of due process and impartial investigation," George said in the statement.
"I trust that this matter will be examined without prejudice. I reaffirm my commitment to ensuring justice and accountability. I look forward to gaining a complete understanding of the circ*mstances surrounding this unfortunate incident," he said.
On Friday, Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Bobby Eberle issued a statement of his own.
“The recent arrest of KP George’s right-hand man and former chief of staff, Taral Patel, is deeply concerning. Patel garnered widespread news coverage (like his former boss) for claiming that racist social media posts were made against him," Eberle said. "Now, based on the arrest warrant and much like Jussie Smollett, it appears that Patel used a fake Facebook account to send racist messages to himself and then blamed his political opponents."
Smollett is a Black actor and singer who was convicted in 2022 on five charges of disorderly conduct for staging a racially motivated attack against him by white men in Chicago, purportedly to help advance his career. He was sentenced to 120 days in county jail. He is appealing his conviction.
“Whether Republican or Democrat, such tactics should be unequivocally condemned by all who value integrity and accountability in politics. This is not a partisan issue, and the good people of Fort Bend County should be able to trust that when allegations are made, they are sincere," Eberle said.
Reached by phone on Saturday, Cynthia Ginyard, the outgoing chair of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, told the Fort Bend Star that the party has not yet decided whether it will issue its own statement regarding Patel's arrest. Ginyard, who decided not to seek reelection to her post this year, will be succeeded next week by Fred Taylor, who won the election in May.
Speaking on her own behalf, Ginyard said any allegations of criminal behavior are serious, "but we are all innocent until proven guilty." In a Facebook posting, she said she "stands by" Patel. Ginyard would not speculate about what will happen with the party's nomination of Patel. Any decisions made by the party are dependent on deadlines under the Texas Election Code, she said.
Attempts to contact Patel for comment for this story were unsuccessful.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ken Fountain, editor of the Fort Bend Star and author of this story, in October 2023 wrote a column that was rooted in Patel's statements about purported racist comments about himself. Fountain addresses that column and the developments since in this column.
