Taral Patel, candidate for Fort Bend County’s 3rd District, is accused of using a third online persona to ingratiate himself in the race

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — The Democratic candidate for Fort Bend County Third District Commissioner is under investigation for a fourth count of identity fraud.

On June 12, Texas Rangers first arrested 30-year-old Taral Patel on charges of internet identity fraud and one count of false identity, a Class A misdemeanor.

Since then, search warrants have revealed links to other false identities, including one where the person posed as a real district judge and, most recently, another identity used the photo of a Pennsylvania real estate agent.

According to court records, acting Third District Commissioner Andy Meyers first requested in October 2023 that the Fort Bend County Attorney’s Office launch an investigation into the source of several racist social media posts targeting his opponent Patel.

Patel, who was formerly chief of staff to Fort Bend County Judge KP George, is accused of creating fake Facebook accounts with other people’s photos. The accounts contained posts that were too offensive to be shown on television. Patel made a collage of them and sent them out in a press release, ostensibly to drum up support.

ORIGINAL STORY: Fort Bend County candidate charged with allegedly faking racist attacks on himself on social media

State investigators linked one of those accounts to Patel under the false name “Antonio Scalywag” after serving a subpoena to Facebook and Google. The account used a photo of a Needville man’s family and had horrible things to say about Patel.

According to search warrants, Patel also posed as a Fort Bend County employee and created a fake Facebook account through which he interacted with “Antonio Scalywag” under his real name. District Judge Surendran Pattel. In the latest search warrant, investigators linked Patel to the email address “[email protected],” which was used to open a Facebook account under the name “Jane Donnie” with a photo of a Pennsylvania real estate agent on his profile. The real estate agent investigators interviewed confirmed to ABC13 on Tuesday that the account was not his.

Patel’s attorney, Frank Yeverino, did not respond to a request for comment. Patel has never commented on the allegations and, despite calls to quit, remains in the race for Fort Bend County’s 3rd District seat.

The public prosecutor’s office said that the investigation was still ongoing.

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