Texas Dem hopeful and former Biden nominee arrested for allegedly posting false racist social comments about himself

A former Biden White House appointee and current Democratic candidate for a county commissioner seat in Texas allegedly created a fake social media account to post fake racist comments about himself.

Taral Patel, 30, a candidate for county commissioner in Fort Bend County Precinct 3, just outside Houston, was arrested for online impersonation last week after an investigation by his opponent, the Past President Andy Meyers.

The Fort Bend District Attorney's Office launched the investigation in October, shortly after a lengthy Facebook post in September in which Patel portrayed himself and his family as victims of a vicious racial smear campaign perpetrated by supporters of his opponent.

The post included a collage of a dozen racist messages he claimed to have received during his candidacy, calling him vile names such as “monkey” and “subhuman” and attacking his Hindu faith.

Patel's campaign website says he previously worked for the Justice Department's Criminal Division in the Public Integrity Section and was nominated by President Biden to serve in the Justice Liaison Office. White House, as well as the White House Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Committee.

“These hateful images (a small sample attached) come from a place of deep, misguided fear – incited by people like former President Donald Trump, and today's extremist Republican Party fears that immigrants “ take their jobs” and set out to harm our society. own communities. Patel wrote.

Meyers became suspicious when he recognized one of the names in the collage, “Antonio Scalywag,” as someone who had previously attacked him online, ABC 13 wrote, prompting him to call for an investigation into the Patel’s claims.

Investigators subpoenaed Facebook and Google for user profile information, which led them directly to Patel, including his address, phone number, credit card number and more.

On Wednesday, the Texas Rangers arrested Patel on a charge of third-degree online identity theft – a felony – as well as a class A misdemeanor charge of false representation of identity.

He was briefly held in the Fort Bend County Jail before posting bond Thursday morning, posting $20,000 for the felony charge and $2,500 for the misdemeanor. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22.

Patel's campaign website cites a number of positions he previously held, including chief of staff for Fort Bend County. He says he also worked for the Justice Department's Criminal Division, in the Public Integrity Section, as a governor's deputy finance director, and as a member of the House legislative staff. representatives from Texas.

According to the campaign website, Patel was appointed by Biden to serve in the White House Liaison Office to work on issues related to housing, urban development, disaster recovery and resiliency.

The website says Patel was also a “key member” of WHAANHPIC.

The Patel campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Sunday afternoon.