A former Biden administration official and Texas congressional hopeful has been charged with running four fake social media accounts that harassed him and his campaign.
Taral Patel, 30, was arrested in June and charged with online impersonation and a Class A misdemeanor after he allegedly organized racist attacks against himself in an attempt to gain sympathy.
The Democratic candidate for Fort Bend County commissioner is now accused of running several fake accounts, including one in which he impersonated a real district judge, according to a report ABC 13.
Patel allegedly used images of real people to create fake Facebook accounts, which he used to abuse himself online, possibly to gain public sympathy.
Court records show current Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers asked police to open an investigation into racist comments against Patel last October.
Taral Patel, 30, was arrested in June and charged with online impersonation and a Class A misdemeanor after he allegedly organized racist attacks against himself.
Meyers believed one of the names belonged to an account called “Antonio Scalywag,” who he said had also previously harassed him online.
As a result of a subpoena to Facebook and Google, Scalywag was traced to Patel, and the Democrat was subsequently arrested.
Prosecutors say Patel used a photo of a Needville man’s family for the account, which he allegedly used to send hate to himself.
Patel is also accused of impersonating a Fort Bend County employee and creating a fake Facebook account under the name of real District Court Judge Surendran Pattel.
Detectives say they also linked Patel to the email address ‘theonlydangerdog@gmail.com’, which he used to open a Facebook account under the name ‘Jane Donnie’ and the photo of a real Pennsylvania real estate agent.
Patel has not addressed the allegations since being released from jail on bond in June and remains a candidate for Fort Bend County Precinct 3.
Last September, she wrote a lengthy Facebook post that she paired with a collage of nearly a dozen derogatory posts attacking her race, ethnicity, religion and political affiliations.
Patel has not addressed the allegations since being released from jail on bond in June and remains a candidate for Fort Bend County District 3.
However, after his arrest he posted several tweets, one of which read: “Good morning to everyone except mosquitoes the size of Texas.”
Last September, she wrote a lengthy Facebook post that she paired with a collage of nearly a dozen derogatory posts attacking her race, ethnicity, religion and political affiliations.
The collage featured comments that appeared to come from accounts extolling conservative Christian virtues and criticizing immigrants (the names associated with most of the comments are blurred or obscured in the image).
Patel is also accused of impersonating a Fort Bend County employee and creating a fake Facebook account under the name of real District Court Judge Surendran Pattel (pictured).
Patel, a rising Democrat, is seen with Barack Obama
Patel’s lengthy statement on the comments reads in part: “I am always open to criticism of my political positions and stances on issues. However, when my Republican opponents and their supporters choose to hurl #racist, #anti-immigrant, #Hinduphobic or otherwise repugnant insults at my family, my faith community, my colleagues and me, that crosses a line.”
‘Fort Bend County’s diversity has made us all stronger, and these hateful images (I’ve attached a small sample) come from a place of deep and misguided fear, incited by people like former President Donald Trump and the current Republican Party’s extremist fear that immigrants are “taking their jobs” and setting out to harm our own communities.’
In 2021, Patel was appointed as the White House Liaison to address housing, urban development, and disaster recovery and resilience issues.