John Jefferson
Left: Taral Patel campaign photo. Right: Circuit Judge Surendran Pattel (Fort Bend County, Texas).
A Democratic candidate for county office in Texas accused of creating fake online accounts to post racist attacks on himself allegedly made a Facebook profile in the name of the judge who was assigned to his case.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Taral Patel, 30, was running for Fort Bend County Commission Precinct 3 when he was hit with a deluge of racist online attacks from various Facebook accounts in September. At the time, Patel said that he had been targeted with anti-Indian, anti-Hindu, and anti-Democratic rhetoric.
The person behind those attacks, however, appears to have been Patel himself, according to prosecutors. The incumbent whose seat Patel was seeking, Andy Meyers, investigated the posts, and said that a Facebook account by the name of “Antonio Scalywag,” who Meyers had said harassed him online, was also linked to the comments targeting Patel. Law enforcement obtained a subpoena and allegedly traced the Scalywag account back to Patel.
He was charged in June with online impersonation and misrepresentation of identity.
Now, according to Houston NBC affiliate KPRK, authorities think Patel has done it again — this time creating a fake Facebook account in the name of the judge assigned to his case.
Citing a search warrant, the station reported that Patel allegedly made a Facebook account in the name of 240th Criminal District Court Judge Surendran Pattel. A law enforcement search of a Google phone in Patel’s possession reportedly turned up a Facebook account listed for Judge Pattel connected to an email address for defendant Patel.
The judge reportedly told investigators during an interview Monday that the didn’t create that Facebook account and didn’t authorize anyone else to create it, KPRK reported. The photo in the allegedly fake account was the same Pattel said he used in his personal profile.
KPRK reported that Patel’s case has since been moved to a different court. Online court records do not list Pattel as the judicial officer in the case.
According to The Daily Beast, President Joe Biden appointed Patel in 2021 to serve as a White House liaison for issues including housing, urban development, and disaster recovery.
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