A Democratic candidate for a local office position in Texas was arrested last week on charges stemming from a racist attack he allegedly staged against himself.
Taral Patel, 30, has been running for Fort Bend County Commission Precinct 3 – a local position in the outer suburbs of Houston – since last year.
Last September, he wrote a long Facebook post that he paired with a collage of nearly a dozen disparaging posts that attack his race, ethnicity, religion, and political affiliations.
The collage featured comments that appeared to come from accounts that extolled conservative Christian virtues, and railed against immigrants – the names attached to most of the comments are blurred or otherwise obscured in the image.
Patel’s long-winded statement about the comments reads in part, ‘I am always open to criticism of my policy positions and stances on issues. 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.
‘Fort Bend County’s diversity has made us all stronger, and these hateful images (a small sample attached here) are from a place of deep and misguided fear – incited by people like former President Donald Trump and today’s extremist Republican Party fear that immigrants are “taking their jobs” and setting out to hurt our own communities.’
But, last Wednesday, Texas Rangers arrested Patel after law enforcement allegedly connected at least one of the hate-spewing accounts directly to Patel.
It remains to be seen whether all of the accounts in the collage were created by Patel in an effort to boost a certain kind of support for his campaign.
At the time of the post, Patel’s opponent, Republican incumbent Andy Meyers’ campaign reported that they attempted to authenticate the identities of the commenters – but could not.
Meyers believed that one of the names, which was not redacted entirely, belonged to an account called Antonio Scalywag.
That user, Meyers told authorities, had previously harassed him online.
Ultimately, Meyers – who has served in his current position since 1997 – requested that the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office look into the matter.
As a result of a subpoena obtained by the office, Scalywag was traced back to Patel, and the Democrat was subsequently arrested.
Commenters exploded in the wake of the accusations against Patel.
‘Good morning Taral Smollett !’ wrote one commenter, making reference to the infamous hate-crime hoax orchestrated by former Empire actor Jussie Smollett.
‘This is such a classic race-hustling fraudster’s script. You even blame DONALD TRUMP,’ wrote one angered observer.
‘As my Indian mother taught me (yours obviously didn’t), “never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.” You are an embarrassment to our community, and should be barred for life from holding any public office. Enjoy your felony, Jaan,’ he concluded.
Patel is facing one count of online impersonation, and one of misrepresentation of identity – the former is a third-degree felony charge, the latter, a Class A misdemeanor.
He made bail last Thursday, but has not yet publicly commented on the situation. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Patel and his campaign for comment.