Ex-Houston officer accused of assault in bogus fraud declare
HOUSTON (AP) — A former Houston police captain turned into charged with assault on Tuesday after running a man off the highway and protecting him at gunpoint as a way to show what authorities have referred to as a bogus voter fraud scheme.
Mark Aguirre claimed that an air conditioner repairman changed into the mastermind of an enormous voter fraud scheme. Aguirre mentioned the person’s truck become stuffed with fraudulent ballots when he ran his SUV into it on Oct. 19, in accordance with authorities.
“The defendant stated (the driving force) has approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand fraudulent mail ballots and is using Hispanic children to signal the ballots because the toddlers’s fingerprints would no longer appear in any databases,” in line with an arrest affidavit.
Aguirre told police he and some friends install a “command post” at a Marriott resort in suburban Houston and carried out 24-hour surveillance on the repairman for four days, in line with the affidavit. He talked about he then ran the man’s truck off the road, pointed a gun at him, compelled him onto the ground and put a knee on his back, the affidavit stated.
Police who replied to the incident searched the truck and located most effective air con elements and equipment, authorities talked about. Authorities didn’t identify the truckdriver, who turned into now not hurt.
“A prolonged investigation … decided allegations of election fraud have been unfounded and no evidence of unlawful ballots become discovered,” Houston police noted.
Aguirre informed a police officer at the scene, “I simply hope you’re a patriot,” based on the affidavit.
Lt. Wayne Rubio with the Texas attorney generic’s workplace later instructed police that Aguirre had asked his workplace to behavior a site visitors stop for his investigation and when Rubio spoke of he couldn’t do that, Aguirre noted he would do it himself and “make a citizen’s arrest,” according to the affidavit.
Aguirre, sixty three, has been charged with aggravated assault with a lethal weapon. court information didn’t listing an attorney for Aguirre.
If convicted, Aguirre faces up to twenty years in jail. Police have not recognized some other suspects.
Police say Aguirre was paid $266,400 by using Houston-based mostly Liberty center for God and country, a nonprofit firm that is run with the aid of GOP birthday celebration activist Dr. Steven Hotze.
A conservative vigor broking service, Hotze unsuccessfully sued to cease the extension of early voting in Texas for this 12 months’s election. He also sued officials in Harris County, where Houston is determined, to limit in-adult and absentee vote casting, making allegations devoid of facts that Democrats had been engaged in “ballot harvesting” by gathering votes from people who are homeless or elderly.
Allegations by President Donald Trump and others of huge voter fraud have been refuted via a number of judges, state election officers, an arm of his own administration’s homeland security department and attorney general William Barr.
Hotze became also part of a gaggle of people who unsuccessfully tried to problem the legality of power-thru voting in Harris County.
Jared Woodfill, an attorney for Hotze, said Liberty middle had employed Aguirre’s business and round 20 investigators who had been searching into allegations of voter fraud all over the election.
Woodfill observed he doesn’t know if Aguirre was working on the investigation at the time of the alleged assault, however that Liberty core doesn’t approve of such tactics.
“we’d never suggest that, saying go pull somebody over, put a gun up to their head and make them open up their truck,” he referred to.
Woodfill noted he could be “surprised if the allegations were authentic. That seems out of persona for any of the individuals that could be working below Liberty middle.”
Harris County District lawyer Kim Ogg spoke of Aguirre’s actions “crossed the line from soiled politics to commission of a violent crime.”
“we are fortunate nobody was killed,” Ogg referred to. “His alleged investigation was backward from the birth — first alleging a crime had happened after which attempting to show it happened.”
Aguirre was fired from the Houston Police department in 2003 after a botched raid during which virtually 300 americans had been arrested in a crackdown on illegal road racing. Most who had been arrested have been not linked to highway racing and charges have been dropped. Aguirre changed into tried and acquitted on 5 counts of reputable oppression.
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