Hearing set for Plano resident in election law case - Star Local Media
Plano resident John Stafford will appear in court on Jan. 26 for an alleged state election law violation, Collin County Courthouse documents revealed Monday.
Stafford was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 16 for “True Source of Election Communication,” a Class A misdemeanor. According to the indictment, probable cause was established that Stafford engaged in election communication that “emanates from a source other than its true source, to wit, sending text messages with the appearance of coming from a Republican or conservative campaign.”
The indictment specifically mentioned 2021 Plano City Council and Plano ISD candidates Lily Bao, Anthony Ricciardelli, Justin Adcock, Howard Smith, Lynn Walling and Joyce Loughray as the subjects of the alleged scheme.
The indictment came as Plano police investigated a series of clandestine text messages purported to be from supporters of right-leaning Plano candidates. Candidates named in the texts denied any involvement with them and maintained that they were from an external source.
The text messages garnered community attention for being sent to thousands of Plano residents’ phones from mysterious phone numbers and for hitting on partisan beats.
One of the text messages read, “Make Plano Great Again. Vote For Donald Trump Co-Chair Lily Bao for Mayor.” Bao denied any involvement with this text.
Stafford, who is running for the Place 4 seat in the Collin County Commissioners Court, denied any wrongdoing and said that the allegations were made by candidates such as Adcock to subvert his campaign.
“That a Republican operative would initiate a complaint with the Plano Police Department about me has everything to do with their fear of losing one-party control of Collin County. As a resident of the City of Excellence, I have the utmost confidence in the Plano Police Department and trust their ability to sort baseless allegations from real ones,” Stafford told the Plano Star Courier on Dec. 18.
Stafford cited Adcock running a paid advertisement on Facebook publicizing the indictment as evidence that the complaint’s initiation was “100% political.”
Adcock responded to these allegations in a Monday email in saying, “The initial complaint was filed with Plano Police Department on April 21st, 2021. 9 days before the general election (May 1st). He also stated [to the Dallas Morning News that] this was an attempt to derail his candidacy but we didn't find out who the individual/s involved were until December 16th - 5 days after Mr. Stafford announced he was running for office. It may seem political but it's really just bad timing.”
Stafford’s attorney, Kyle Therrian, said in a Dec. 22 phone call regarding the charge against his client, “I have serious concerns about law enforcement getting involved in politics, especially something that appears to be an exercise of free speech.”
source: https://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/hearing-set-for-plano-resident-in-election-law-case/article_1cd92d1e-6ce6-11ec-a35f-379206171a13.html
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