Ex-cop holds repairman at gunpoint, believing he had 750K fake ballots, TX police say
.jpg "Former Houston Police Department Capt. Mark Anthony Aguirre held a repairman at gunpoint, believing he masterminded voter fraud, Harris County officials say.")
A former Houston police captain is accused of holding a repairman at gunpoint, believing the man was the “mastermind” of a massive voter fraud scheme, authorities say.
Mark Anthony Aguirre, 63, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the attack on the air-conditioning technician in October, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Aguirre told police he was conducting surveillance on the man for four days under a theory that he had 750,000 fraudulent ballots in his truck, authorities say. On Oct. 19, Aguirre rammed his SUV into the repairman’s truck, then pointed a handgun at the man and forced him to the ground, authorities say.
Prosecutors say he was pinning the man’s neck to the ground with his knee when police officers arrived, body cameras show. He directed officers to a parking lot nearby where another man had taken the truck.
But there were no ballots in the truck, only tools and parts, authorities say. An investigation of Aguirre’s theory of election fraud was baseless, authorities say.
Aguirre told investigators he was part of a group called “Liberty Center for God and Country” conducting an investigation into the ballot scheme. According to prosecutors, the group paid Aguirre more than $266,000, including a $211,400 payment the day after the attack.
“He crossed the line from dirty politics to commission of a violent crime and we are lucky no one was killed,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a news release. “His alleged investigation was backward from the start – first alleging a crime had occurred and then trying to prove it happened.”
Aguirre could go to prison for up to 20 years.
The Houston Police Department says Aguirre was “indefinitely suspended” in 2003 but did not include a reason for the suspension.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Ex-cop holds repairman at gunpoint, believing he had 750K fake ballots, TX police say."