Texas politician accused of creating Facebook profile to send himself hate messages

A Texas Democrat running for county commission was taken into custody after being accused of creating a fraudulent social media profile to send hateful messages to his official account.

Taral Patel, a Fort Bend county commissioner candidate in Precinct 3, was arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday, KTRK and TND reported. He was charged with third-degree online impersonation, a felony, and misrepresentation of identity, a misdemeanor.

USA TODAY contacted Texas Public Safety and the Fort Bend District Attorney's Office for additional comment. Patel's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fort Bend County is about 38 miles from Houston.

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Patel claimed he was targeted by hate messages

Last September, Patel created a post on his campaign page claiming that he received a slew of hate comments from the supporters of his Republican opponents. Attached to the post were screenshots of the alleged messages.

"As your Democratic candidate for County Commissioner, I am always open to criticism of my policy positions and stances on issues," Patel stated. "However, when my Republican opponents supporters' decide to hurl #racist, #anti-immigrant, #Hinduphobic, or otherwise disgusting insults at my family, faith community, colleagues, and me - that crosses a line."

Arrest documents obtained by KTRK say that the post sparked Patel's Republican challenger, Andy Meyers, to ask the DA to investigate the matter. According to the report, Meyers informed law enforcement that he was familiar with an account dubbed "Antonio Scalywag" that took digs at him in the past.

The probe revealed that the account, which had a phony profile picture of a random man, was linked to Patel's personal information. Investigators allege Patel used the profile between October 2022 and May 2024, KVUE reported.

Local GOP party responds in statement

Following Patel's arrest, the Fort Bend County GOP released a statement likening the accused's alleged actions to Jussie Smollett, an actor who was found guilty of staging a 2019 attack, according to reports.

"Patel garnered widespread news coverage...for claiming racist social media posts were made against him," chairman Bobby Eberle wrote in a statement. "Now, based on the arrest warrant and much like Jussie Smollet, it appears that Patel used a fake Facebook account to send racist messages to himself and then blamed his political opponents."

It continued: "Whether Republican or Democrat, such tactics should be unequivocally condemned by all who value integrity and accountability in politics. This is not a partisan issue, and the good people of Fort Bend County should be able to trust that when allegations are made, they are sincere."

Reports say Patel bonded out and is scheduled to appear in court in late July.

Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@gannett.com.