SUGAR LAND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — The campaign of Taral Patel, the indicted former Chief of Staff for Fort Bend County Judge KP George, is stirring more fear and public manipulation in his bid to unseat incumbent Commissioner Andy Meyers. Patel’s supporters have escalated their tactics with a video featuring atomic bomb explosions, children running for cover, and "Sugar Land" on the screen, suggesting the county will suffer nuclear annihilation if voters don't elect the criminally indicted Patel.
Patel has been indicted eight times for online impersonation and identity theft, allegedly stealing other people’s identities and creating fake online accounts to distribute racist comments that he authored to gain sympathy for his campaign and manipulate the public into believing the posts came from his opponents and the opponents of County Judge KP George. Last month, Patel and George were both indicted by a Fort Bend County Grand Jury in connection with the scheme.
The Fort Bend District Attorney and the Texas Rangers claim that Patel and Judge George used these tactics to incite fear, create sympathy, and manipulate the outcome of the 2022 election. They allege Patel is using the same strategy in his 2024 Democratic primary and general election races.
Patel campaign
A screen shot from the latest video supporting Taral Patel suggests nuclear annihilation if voters don't support him.
Patel’s frontman since the indictments has been Shapnik Khan, a partner in an engineering firm that stands to benefit from big county contracts should Patel win.
Khan has funneled $33,000 to Patel’s campaign, and now he's alarming the community with a video depicting nuclear explosions, overlaid with the word "Sugar Land" and images of children fleeing atomic fallout.
The misleading video suggests Meyers is accepting bribes to construct a nuclear power plant and spread radioactive fallout over Sugar Land, killing children and adults.
“We don’t want a nuclear power plant in Fort Bend County. We don’t want fallout in your backyard, brought to you by Andy Meyers,” a narrator with a British accent says over footage of children running from mushroom clouds.
Playing on Fears Associated with Sugar Land's Power Plant Proposal
The video is circulating at a time when the City of Sugar Land is considering building a natural gas-powered standby power plant to support peak energy usage during times of low supply. If approved, it would not be a nuclear plant but would run on natural gas lines already located on the property.
“There is a natural gas line that runs under that entire property,” said Sugar Land City Council Member William Ferguson.
It’s also a City of Sugar Land project, meaning neither Meyers nor any county official has the authority to stop its construction.
Ferguson calls the video “shameful” and “sad.”
“To attack Andy Meyers like this is shameful. Andy is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. This is just sad for our community,” Ferguson said.
Purposely Conflating Facts
The video’s deception is based on an appointment Meyers accepted from Governor Abbott to serve on a working group tasked with strengthening the state’s electric grid. The group is examining the future use of carbon-free advanced nuclear power, a significantly safer alternative to today’s nuclear plants.
Advanced nuclear technology is considered a reliable power source with numerous secondary benefits, including eliminating spent atomic fuel that currently requires storage for thousands of years and producing radioisotopes that cure cancer. Proponents also say advanced nuclear plants can desalinate water, addressing one of the state’s biggest future problems: supplying water to support booming residential growth.
Khan’s video, however, does not include any of this information. Instead, it conflates nuclear bombs with atomic technology from the last century to frighten voters into supporting an indicted candidate with a criminal background, for allegedly using fake racism to manipulate the results of two elections.
Khan’s video contains numerous inaccuracies, including a misspelling of Meyers’ last name, prompting some to question whether Khan is so misinformed that he doesn’t know the Commissioner of Precinct 3’s name is Meyers, not Meyer.
Reaction from the GOP
Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Bobby Eberle was not surprised that Khan is the frontman with Patel and George in their effort to defeat Meyers.
“They are the Bermuda Triangle of corruption in Fort Bend County,” Eberle said.
George led the effort to redistrict Meyers out of his own home, while his wife was living at that home with a terminal illness. Janel Meyers later died after the Democrats on Commissioners Court approved George's plan.
Eberle says everything about frontman Khan seems to be a con job.
"As we learn more and more about his lies, we find that he's not a lawyer, as some people claim," Eberle said. "He's not an engineer, as they've claimed. He's just a guy who views KP George and Taral Patel as his cash cows."
Rally to Remove George
Residents demanding George’s resignation will gather at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, at the Fort Bend County Courthouse, located at 401 Jackson Street in Richmond. The rally will happen one hour before the Commissioners Court meeting. If attendees want to speak during the meeting’s public comments section, they can sign up before the meeting begins. A sign-up sheet will be available at the Commissioners Court Chamber.
Investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino takes a deeper look into Shapnik Khan, Taral Patel, KP George, and other elected officials associated with Civitas Engineering.
Investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino takes a deeper look into KP George, Shapnik Khan, Taral Patel, and others associated with Civitas Engineering and the company's connection to Fort Bend County.
The owner of Covering Katy News is also employed by the Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner's Office.