Taral Patel, a Democratic nominee for Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner, was indicted by a Grand Jury on multiple felony counts of online impersonation.

“According to court documents, Patel created Facebook accounts impersonating other people with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten others,” FOX 26 Houston reports.

Patel was arrested in June after investigators said he used an account to “post false racist and xenophobic messages about himself online,” Houston Landing noted.

FOX 26 Houston reports:

He would post these comments under fake names such as “Antonio Scalywag”, “Jennifer Tremaine”, and “Jane Donnie”.

Under the pseudonym “Antonio Scalywag”, Patel is accused of posting racist comments related to Fort Bend County Commissioner of Precinct 3, Andy Meyers. Documents state Patel posted a press release on Sept. 18, 2023, showing a collage of “racist” social media posts. One of the comments in the post read, “I am with Meyers ALL THE WAY. . .unlike Patel and his followers who worship Monkey and Elephant.”

Court records also revealed the profile picture uploaded to the “Antonio Scalywag” account was posted from the IP address matching the residence of Patel from Virginia. The email address from the account was also linked back to Patel.

WATCH:

Per Houston Landing:

The investigation into Patel was prompted by his Republican opponent, incumbent Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers, in October 2023. According to court documents, Meyers recognized the Scalywag account, claiming it had made posts attacking him in the past.

Patel posted on his X account in September 2023 that he was receiving a barrage of hateful messages from Scalywag and others. Many of those hateful Facebook comments featured in the post expressed support for Meyers, who has held the commissioner seat since 1997.

Investigators determined the profile photo on the Scalywag Facebook account belonged to Needville resident Patrick Ernst.

When brought in for questioning, Ernst said he never made the posts or sent direct messages from the account, and he didn’t give anyone consent to do so on his behalf. He considered the messages to be harmful to his reputation, search warrants show.

 

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