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

[Zaina]

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