Hardin County Judge Billy Caraway says Plunk apparently had been having health problems after the transplant. Caraway says an ambulance was summoned to Plunk's home in Silsbee early Tuesday and the judge died at a hospital.
No cause of death was immediately provided.
Caraway says Plunk, who served more than a dozen years as judge of 356th District Court, switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP earlier this year. Caraway described the criminal court judge as "well respected."
Sheriff Ed Cain told KFDM-TV that he spoke with Plunk last Friday and that the judge said he felt good. Plunk was 64.