Charges dropped against conservative activist in Texas over false voter fraud claim
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against a prominent conservative activist in Houston related to allegations he had been part of what authorities have called a baseless voter fraud conspiracy theory in which a man was run off the road and held at gunpoint over claims he was holding fraudulent voter ballots.
Dr. Steven Hotze, 74, had been facing four charges related to allegedly helping plan an assault against an air conditioner repairman in October 2020.
Prosecutors alleged the repairman was run off the road and held at gunpoint by Mark Aguirre, a former Houston police officer. Aguirre had worked for a firm hired by Liberty Center for God and Country, a nonprofit organization that Hotze runs, to pursue a voter fraud investigation.
Aguirre had claimed the repairman was the mastermind of the voter fraud scheme and that the man’s truck had been filled with fraudulent ballots when Aguirre ran his SUV into it, according to authorities.
Police who responded to the incident searched the repairman’s truck and found only air conditioning parts and tools, prosecutors said.
Hotze was charged with four counts — aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, engaging in organized crime and unlawful restraint.
On Tuesday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office dropped all four counts against Hotze and three of the five...
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