'Diminishes the real racism': Fort Bend Co. commissioner responds to county judge's search warrant

Rosie Nguyen Image
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Pct. 3 commissioner responds to Ft. Bend Co. judge's search warrant
Andy Meyers spoke with ABC13 after calling for the investigation that led to a bombshell search warrant into Fort Bend County Judge KP George.

RICHMOND, Texas (KTRK) -- For the second day in a row, Fort Bend County Judge KP George avoided answering questions on-camera to ABC13 about his bombshell search warrant allegations as he walked out of Commissioners Court Tuesday afternoon.

RELATED: Fort Bend Co. Judge KP George evades ABC13's questions amid probe into alleged election scheme

The second-term Democrat is accused of two counts of misrepresentation of identity, a Class A misdemeanor, for "acting with intent to promote or assist" Taral Patel "in campaign communication with the intent to injure or influence the result of an election."

The allegations are violations of the Texas Election Code.

The charges come after George was allegedly involved in a scheme to push fake racist social media comments to fuel his re-election two years ago. In an online post in 2022, George claimed he was the target of a collage of racially-charged comments.

Search warrant documents, filed Thursday, revealed incriminating text messages that allude to George knowing that Patel, his chief of staff at the time, was behind some of the fake accounts.

READ MORE: New warrant suggests Fort Bend County Judge KP George knew about staffer's alleged wrongdoing

The allegations follow Patel's arrest on four felony counts of online impersonation. The warrant shows that investigators dug deeper into Patel's phone and email records to link his alleged wrongdoing to George.

Investigators believe Patel used the same tactic a year later while running for Pct. 3 county commissioner against incumbent Andy Meyers. Patel has not withdrawn from the race.

RELATED: Fort Bend County candidate charged for allegedly faking racist social media attacks against himself

Meyers is the person who asked the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office to open the investigation in the first place. He told ABC13 he was surprised to find out that Patel and George were eventually named in the case.

"I did not know who that was at the time. I did it because the racist and hateful statements that were being sent out across the county were causing concern for my constituents," Meyers said. "My objective was to unmask whoever this Antonio Scalawag (name of the fake profile) really was, which I believe would simply make them stop doing this."

"On the advice of my attorney, I neither can comment nor answer any specific questions at this time," George wrote in a statement to ABC13 on Monday. "I have 100% faith in the legal process and trust that once all the facts are reviewed, my name will be cleared."

RELATED: Fort Bend County Judge KP George responds to search warrant amid calls for resignation

George is not currently facing any charges. But Meyers said if he is eventually found guilty, he will call for the judge to apologize and step down.

"If this is true, it diminishes the real racism out there," Meyers said. "I've been here for 48 years, and I've never encountered something like this. This has characterized the people of Fort Bend County as being racist. That information is now on the internet forever."

Patel has not responded to any of ABC13's requests for comment. He was due in court on Monday for an arraignment, but it has been reset to next month.

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