FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — A new Harris County warrant in the case against Fort Bend County Judge KP George suggests he may have tried to perform a factory reset on his personal phone before it was seized.
George has been indicted on a single misdemeanor charge of mispresenting identity as a candidate. He was booked into the Fort Bend County Jail on Thursday around 7:15 p.m. and released on a $1,000 personal bond.
A warrant obtained by KHOU 11 last week for George's cellular devices suggested the county judge coordinated with an employee, Taral Patel, who used a fake Facebook account to post racist comments targeting George during his 2022 reelection campaign. The motive was presumably to drum up sympathy and influence the election.
The new Harris County warrant includes new details about the day Texas Rangers went to George's Richmond home to seize his cellular devices on Sept. 18. Two Rangers said George was told to put his phone down when they arrived but he picked it back up twice and they saw him "manipulating his phone." One Ranger thought it was "odd" that the Samsung phone, which wasn't issued by the county, had more than 15 unsuccessful passcode attempts. The second Ranger explained that Samsung devices are equipped with a security setting that launches a factory reset after 20 unsuccessful passcode attempts.
What led to the indictment of KP George?
Investigators with the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office began looking into George while investigating Patel, his former chief of staff.
Patel was arrested in June on charges of online impersonation and misrepresentation involving similar racist posts in his own 2024 campaign against Andy Meyers for Precinct 3 county commissioner.
Patel's phone records contained evidence that the same fake Facebook account under the name "Antonio Scalywag" was used when George was running for reelection in 2022 and that the county judge knew about it and approved it.
"The allegations are that he [George] and Taral Patel coordinated the racist messages that were basically posted during his campaign to essentially make KP George a victim, for the purpose of obviously winning a political race," Meyers told us on Thursday. "They did this for their personal gain which I think is reprehensible."
George released the following statement on Thursday night:
"Although I am disappointed by the charges brought against me, I am confident that 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 in court. This evening I voluntarily reported to the agency that held the warrant and was released on a PR Bond, demonstrating my commitment to fully cooperating with the legal process. Despite calls for my resignation, I have no intention of stepping down. My focus remains on serving the people of Fort Bend County, as I was elected to do. My office and staff will continue working tirelessly on behalf of our residents, ensuring that the County’s business moves forward without interruption. I look forward to clearing my name and continuing the important work entrusted to me by the voters."
Who is Antonio Scalywag?
They said Patel's fake account under the name "Antonio Scalywag" posted racist attacks against himself. In a press release claiming he was a victim of the attacks, he included a collage of the posts by "Scalywag."
The posts were directed at South Asians, calling them terrorists and mocking the Hindu religion.
The investigator learned the same alias had also been used to attack Meyers before Patel launched his campaign to run against Meyers.
Investigator Evett Kelly with the Fort Bend DA's Office determined the "Antonio Scalywag" account was attached to an email account and phone number associated with Patel, according to the warrant. The records from the subpoena also reportedly showed that the profile picture on the account was uploaded in October 2022 from an IP address associated with Patel.
Patel worked as a consultant for KP George's 2022 reelection campaign. According to the warrant, George issued a press release claiming he was the target of racist attacks that investigators now say came from the same "Antonio Scalywag" account.
According to the warrant, cell phone records from Patel's phone showed a conversation between him and a contact saved as KP George discussing the press release and screenshots of the racist comments. Patel had asked him to approve the release. The contact requested an addition be made to the text of the post.
In a different conversation, Patel texted the contact saved as KP George, "They are just blowing up our social media.. I will use fake account to counter them," according to the warrant.
The contact responded, "Thank you," according to the warrant and then Patel replied with specific language to use in a post that investigators said was similar to a comment later posted by the "Antonio Scalywag" account.
The search warrant for George's phone alleges that an email address allegedly used by Patel for the fake account, mountaingoatzrule@gmail.com, was on a phone associated with multiple other email accounts, including electkpgeorge@gmail.com, info@kpgeorge.com and kpgeorge@kpgeorge.com.
The Texas Ranger concluded that "although the text messages appear to show that Patel is the person who published communications to KP George's Facebook page, the text messages appear to show that they were posted with KP George's knowledge and permission."
High-profile defense attorney Rusty Hardin confirmed to KHOU 11 that his firm is representing George.