In a move that will surprise few in 2024, an elected official outside Houston, who claimed to be the target of racist social media posts, turns out to be the guy behind the posts himself.
A grand jury in Fort Bend County, Texas, has indicted Fort Bend County Judge KP George for misrepresenting the identity of a candidate in an election. Law enforcement claims George, who was born in India, worked with his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, to create the false perception that George was being targeted by “racists.” This was allegedly done in an effort to gin up sympathy for George, which he hoped would translate into more votes for him.
According to the indictment, George created an alias called “Antonio Scalywag” that he would use to post the allegedly defamatory messages on George’s own Facebook page. The indictment does not specifically state which election George was said to influence, nor specifically which candidate he was alleged to have harmed. But some inferences can be made from the record. At the time of the activity, George was running against Trever Nehls for the seat of county judge. Nehls is the twin brother of Troy Nehls, a Republican member of Congress from Texas. A county judge in Texas is the equivalent of a “CEO” for the county.
The indictment came after police searched George’s house on Sept. 17, seizing his cell phones and computer. George’s alleged accomplice, his former chief of staff Taral Patel, was indicted earlier this month on related charges. Patel, who is running for a county commission seat, is accused of online impersonation, and police say he too used the “Antonio Scalywag” alias to create racist posts allegedly aimed at him in order to prevail in the election.
Judge KP George, who was born in India and became a U.S. citizen later, has been county judge since 2018.
He said he was “disappointed” that charges were laid against him and said that “justice will prevail” when all the facts come out in court. But he turned himself in this week, and and was then released on personal recognizance.
According to the Fort Bend DA’s office, George became an investigative target while they were tracing down the actions of Taral Patel.
