A former Biden administration White House staffer who has been charged with impersonating a local man to send racist hoax messages to his own campaign, now appears to have impersonated a criminal court judge assigned to his case.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Taral Patel — who previously served as the White House liaison for housing, urban development, and disaster recovery before mounting a campaign for commissioner in Fort Bend County, Texas — appears to have created a Facebook account impersonating Judge Surendran Pattel, a judge who was assigned to a criminal case pending against him but has since recused himself due to his relationship with Patel's family.
Ironically, the charges against Patel stem from another criminal impersonation scheme, where he allegedly created a fake account, "Antonio Scalywag," complete with an image of another local man, and used this account to make fake racist posts against Patel's campaign, including a comment that "Scalywag" would support Patel's opponent “because he serves Jesus unlike Patel and his followers who worship Monkey and Elephant.”
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Patel posted screenshots of these faked racist posts on X to try to garner sympathy for his campaign, with the message, “I am always open to criticism of my policy positions.” Patel added in his post on X, “However, when my Republican opponents supporters' decide to hurl #racist, #antiimmigrant, #Hinduphobic, or otherwise disgusting insults at my family, faith community, colleagues, and me - that crosses a line.”
Authorities are reportedly considering additional charges against Patel, in light of evidence he also impersonated the judge.
The United States saw a surge of hate crimes and racist threats around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic; nonetheless, staged racism incidents have also attracted national attention, one of the most famous being actor Jussie Smollett, who was prosecuted after he fabricated an incident in which Donald Trump supporters in ski masks allegedly committed a hate crime against him.
