• Ex-Houston Police Officer Charged In Attack Over Bogus Election Fraud P

    From Zaina@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 29 23:54:05 2020
    XPost: alt.politics.clinton, sac.politics, houston.politics
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

    An ex-captain in the Houston Police Department was arrested
    Tuesday for allegedly running a man off the road and assaulting
    him in an attempt to prove a bizarre voter-fraud conspiracy
    pushed by a right-wing organization.

    The suspect, Mark Anthony Aguirre, told police he was part of a
    group of private citizens investigating claims of the massive
    fraud allegedly funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and
    involving election ballots forged by Hispanic children. He said
    the plot was underway in Harris County, Texas, prior to the Nov.
    3 election.

    Aguirre said he was working for the group Liberty Center for God
    and Country when, on Oct. 19, he pulled a gun on a man who he
    believed was the mastermind of the scheme. His victim,
    identified as "DL" in the police affidavit, is an air-
    conditioner repairman. Authorities found no evidence that he was
    involved in any fraud scheme claimed by Aguirre.

    Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Aguirre "crossed
    the line from dirty politics to commission of a violent crime
    and we are lucky no one was killed."

    "His alleged investigation was backward from the start — first
    alleging a crime had occurred and then trying to prove it
    happened," Ogg said.

    Claims of voter fraud during this year's election — by President
    Trump, Aguirre and others — have been debunked. Evidence that
    President-elect Joe Biden won the election hasn't stopped Trump
    and others from challenging the results in court — an effort
    that has also repeatedly failed. This week, the Electoral
    College made Biden's victory official.

    Aguirre's scheme was reportedly part of a paid investigation by
    the Liberty Center group, whose CEO is Republican activist
    Steven Hotze. It was later discovered that Aguirre was paid
    $266,400 by the organization for this involvement.

    The Houston Chronicle says Aguirre was fired from the police
    department in 2003 after a controversial raid at a Houston Kmart
    parking lot.

    Liberty Center

    Liberty Center for God and Country's Facebook page says the
    organization's goal "is to provide the bold and courageous
    leadership necessary to restore our nation to its Godly heritage
    by following the strategy that our pilgrim forefathers gave us."

    In a meandering Nov. 18 Facebook post on the organization's
    page, Hotze said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott should be "tarred and
    feathered" for coronavirus lockdown measures in the state.

    He went on to say that he had raised more than $600,000 over a
    three-week period leading up to Nov. 1 "to hire private
    investigators and attorneys to discover, expose and disrupt the
    Democrats' massive election fraud scheme in Harris County."

    That fundraising push, Hotze said, "prevented the Democrats from
    carrying out their massive election fraud scheme in Harris
    County, and prevented them from carrying Texas for Biden. Our
    efforts saved Texas."

    The Texas Tribune says Hotze was also among a group of
    Republicans who unsuccessfully sued to have nearly 127,000
    Harris County ballots tossed out this year and to stop the
    governor from extending early voting during the pandemic.

    The attack

    Aguirre and two other unidentified companions with the Liberty
    Center watched the victim for four days prior to the Oct. 19
    attack, according to police records. They were convinced that
    there were 750,000 fraudulent ballots in the man's vehicle and
    home.

    Aguirre said the victim was using Hispanic children to sign the
    ballots because children's fingerprints wouldn't appear on any
    database, according to the affidavit. He also claimed Facebook's
    founder gave $9.37 billion for "ballot harvesting."

    Three days before the attack, Aguirre contacted law enforcement
    with his allegations of the alleged fraud. He called Lt. Wayne
    Rubio in the Texas Office of the Attorney General for a traffic
    stop to help in his investigation — a request Rubio denied.
    Concerned with Aguirre's claims that he would "handle" the
    situation himself, Rubio contacted police.

    Aguirre was also rebuffed when he contacted the Texas Rangers
    and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Prosecutors say
    Aguirre decided to take matters into his own hands.

    Aguirre and at least two other companions set up a "command
    post" at a Marriott hotel in Pearland, where they planned their
    attack, Aguirre told police. He has refused to identify his co-
    conspirators, claiming he doesn't know who they are, according
    to the affidavit.

    The victim was driving his box truck during the early morning
    hours of Oct. 19, when he noticed a black SUV pull into his
    lane, almost hitting him. A few seconds later, the driver of the
    SUV later identified as Aguirre, allegedly slammed into the back
    of the man's vehicle. When the victim pulled over and got out to
    check on Aguirre, the former police officer allegedly pointed a
    gun at the victim and demanded he get on the ground.

    While Aguirre had his knee into the man's back, according to the
    affidavit, he ordered two other people arrived on the scene to
    search the victim's truck.

    One of them then drove the truck as Aguirre kept the man pinned
    to the ground. The truck was found abandoned a few blocks away
    about 30 minutes after the incident. When police searched the
    victim's truck, only air-conditioner parts and tools were found.
    No ballots were discovered in the truck or in the man's home.

    Aguirre was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly
    weapon, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in
    prison.

    https://www.npr.org/2020/12/16/946995614/ex-houston-police- officer-charged-in-attack-over-bogus-election-fraud-plot

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)