An Indian-American judge in the US state of Texas was indicted Thursday over allegations he created fake and racist social media posts when he ran for re-election in 2022.
A grand jury indicted Fort Bend County Judge KP George on a misdemeanour charge of misrepresentation of identity of a candidate. The indictment alleges that on September 26, 2022, he posed as a Facebook user named “Antonio Scalywag” in a campaign communication posted on George’s Facebook page “with intent to injure a candidate or influence the result of an election.”
The indictment did not specify the election that was allegedly influenced or the candidate that was injured.But at the time, George, a Democrat, was running for re-election as county judge against Trever Nehls, who is the twin brother of Texas congressman Troy Nehls. A county judge serves as the chief executive officer of a county in Texas.
George was indicted after authorities accused him in a Sept 17 search warrant of working with his former chief of staff, Taral Patel, to use the “Antonio Scalywag” alias to post racist social media posts targeting George in order to garner sympathy for the county judge. After the search warrant was issued, George’s cell phones, computer were seized.
George, who grew up in Kerala and immigrated to the US in 1993, is the first person of colour to serve as county judge in Fort Bend, a county of Houston. He was first elected as county judge in 2018. George said he was disappointed charges were filed against him but was confident “when all the facts are presented, justice will prevail.” “In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty and I fully intend to prove my innocence.” George said he turned himself in Thursday and was released on a personal recognizance bond. ap