HOUSTON– The top elected official in a suburban Houston county was indicted Thursday on allegations he posted false and racist messages on social media as he ran for re-election in 2022.
A grand jury has indicted Fort Bend County Judge KP George on a felony count of misrepresenting a candidate’s identity.
The indictment alleges that on September 26, 2022, he impersonated a Facebook user named “Antonio Scalywag” in a campaign communication posted to George’s Facebook page “with the intent to injure a candidate or change the outcome of a influence the election.”
The indictment did not specify which elections were allegedly affected or which candidate was injured. But at the time, George, a Democrat, was running for re-election as district judge against Trever Nehls, the twin brother of Texas Congressman Troy Nehls. A district judge serves as the CEO of a county in Texas.
George was charged after authorities accused him in a September 17 search warrant of conspiring with his former chief of staff, Taral Patal, to use the alias “Antonio Scalywag” to post racist social media posts targeting George to to gain sympathy for the province. right. After the search warrant was served, George’s cellphones and computer were seized.
Born in India and later a U.S. citizen, George is the first person of color to serve as a district judge in Fort Bend, a diverse county southwest of Houston. It has been one of the fastest growing counties in the US in recent years. He was first elected district judge in 2018.
Patal, who is running for the post of district commissioner in the November 5 elections, was charged earlier this month on four counts of online impersonation and four counts of misrepresentation. Authorities allege Patal also used the alias “Antonio Scalywag” to post racist messages to help him in his own race for county commissioner.
A spokesperson for George said in an email Thursday that the district judge would not immediately comment on the charges. The Fort Bend County district attorney, who led the investigation, declined to comment. Frank Yeverino, an attorney for Patel, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Last week, George said in a statement that he believed he was a witness and not a target of the investigation.
“I have not been accused of any crime, nor do I expect to be,” George had said in the statement last week.
At least one Fort Bend County commissioner, Vincent Morales, called on George to resign following his indictment.
