Mark Aguirre
(Houston Police Department via AP)
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By Juan A. Lozano, AP

A former Houston police captain was charged with assault on Tuesday after running a man off the road and holding him at gunpoint in an effort to prove what authorities have called a bogus voter fraud scheme.

Mark Aguirre claimed that an air conditioner repairman was the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre said the man’s truck was filled with fraudulent ballots when he ran his SUV into it on Oct. 19, according to authorities.

“The defendant stated (the driver) has approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand fraudulent mail ballots and is using Hispanic children to sign the ballots because the children’s fingerprints would not appear in any databases,” according to an arrest affidavit.

Aguirre told police he and some friends set up a “command post” at a Marriott hotel in suburban Houston and conducted 24-hour surveillance on the repairman for four days, according to the affidavit. He said he then ran the man’s truck off the road, pointed a gun at him, forced him onto the ground and put a knee on his back, the affidavit said.

Police who responded to the incident searched the truck and found only air conditioning parts and tools, authorities said. Authorities did not name the truckdriver, who was not hurt.

“A lengthy investigation … determined allegations of election fraud were unfounded and no evidence of illegal ballots was found,” Houston police said.

Aguirre told a police officer at the scene, “I just hope you’re a patriot,” according to the affidavit.

Lt. Wayne Rubio with the Texas Attorney General’s Office later told police that Aguirre had asked his office to conduct a traffic stop for his investigation and when Rubio said he couldn’t do that, Aguirre said he would do it himself and “make a citizen’s arrest,” according to the affidavit.

Aguirre, 63, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Court records did not list an attorney for Aguirre.

If convicted, Aguirre faces up to 20 years in prison. Police have not identified any other suspects.

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98 COMMENTS

  1. If the perpetrator is white, it’s a mental illness problem. If a person of color, well that is a different story.

    I’ll let that settle in.

    • Of course it’s paranoid schizophrenia, just another Lonewolf.

      But wait a minute he said ‘they’ set up a command post at a Marriott?

      Except this man was part of a team of 24 investigators that were bought and paid for by a Republican political action group and attempt to intimidate election officials.

      He is not mentally ill, he is a violent criminal who is part of the Republicans organized election fraud strategy.

      Sedition. Ugly word, but it fits, own it, Republicans.

        • Wishy washy values?

          No, I think this item is pretty clear.

          Ex-Houston police captain, member of two dozen man team financed with hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican operatives.

          Team stalks, and in this case, utilizes a vehicle in a reckless manner with risk of injury or death to unlawfully detain an individual he thought was an election official.

          Clearly, Republican operatives are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for armed individuals to interact illegally with what they think are election officials in Texas.

          This isn’t about crazy, this really is about dirty politics and election tampering.

          TX Lt. Governor Dan Patrick offered up to a million dollars to anyone with credible tips on voter fraud. That was Nov 10th, no takers yet.

          But the Republicans are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on armed operators and directing them to interact with election officials.

          And I am sure when asked, the Republicans financing these operations will say they never knew them, just a coffee boy, oh he’s crazy…

          You guys are pathetic losers.

        • Don’t listen to any of these conspiracy theory maniacs Miner49er. You’re as smart, articulate, clean smelling, and witty as much as Joe Biden is the MOST popular Presidential candidate in American history. We NOW know that Barack Obama wasn’t the most popular Presidential candidate, rather, it was Joe Biden who dragged Obama across the finish line with his massive popularity.

          These people claim that the powerful and benevolent Chinese Communist government (may they have good fortune in the new year and a bountiful harvest) are influencing our government at the highest levels and manipulating our elections!! How absurd!! Amiright?!?

          Any hoooo… these gun nuts; I’ve been in their sights for a while, so take it from me: Don’t let them get you down. Stay strong Miner49er and keep fighting the good fight. They won’t be around much longer anyway…. Fang Fang hit me up on Facebook and said “the device is feet dry LMAO xoxo” …. So don’t worry Miner49er, when they rise up against us it will be a short fight my friend.

          Eric Swalwell 2020

        • “This isn’t about crazy, this really is about dirty politics and election tampering.”

          Have you looked in the mirror? Dumbass extremists.

        • “Dumbass extremists.”

          Monty, I’m not the armed Republican operative that used a vehicle to stalk and ram an innocent individuals car and force them off the road with risk of injury or death, I’m not the one who produced a lethal weapon and threatened an innocent individual’s life, motivated by a crazy conspiracy theory that’s been thrown out of 50 courts.

          Armed election tampering with risk of death or serious injury, malicious, violent election official intimidation.

          Do you want to find an extremist, perhaps you should think about who is supporting these criminals, try looking in the mirror.

        • “Your take on individualism as a collective is troubling.“

          The fact that you are ignoring that this individual was a member of a team with two dozen investigators, financed by hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican operatives, is troubling.

          He was no Lonewolf, he was a member of a well financed, organize team led by Republican operatives in order to disrupt the election.

          What other states are these teams operating in, and are these other teams staffed with disgraced former police officers as well?

        • Jeez Miner… I thought we were the paranoid schizophrenics here (sarc). Your letting the mask slip buddy. Project much (not sarc)?

        • “Armed election tampering,” you call it…

          Are you forgetting the part where an absolutely and perfectly secure and honest election happened a month ago, and Joe Biden is totally the most popular president-elect in American history?

        • Pretty sure he (it?, I mean, proper pronoun usage and all…) is also CHOSING to forget (a classic democrat trait) the entire year of rioting and looting, as well as all the acts of violence commited by the left throughout entire world history… but hey, -isms are all derivatives of the right… right? riiiiight…

          “Their research into whether voting rights notification laws increase ex-felons’ voter turnout found that in three states — New York, New Mexico and North Carolina — a majority of ex-felons registered post-incarceration as Democrats. The breakdown was as follows: New York, 61.5 percent Democrat, 9 percent Republican; New Mexico: 51.9 percent Democrat, 18.9 percent Republican; and North Carolina, 54.6 percent Democrat, 10.2 percent Republican.”

          – published in January 2014 in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and written by Marc Meredith, an associate professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Political Science, and Michael Morse, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at Harvard University, who once worked as an undergraduate fellow at FactCheck.org.

          Miner can’t think back that far though. 2014? No way. It wasn’t on CNN 1,000 times this year so it’s not relative. Want the rest of the research? Probably not, because it basically says that over 70% of those registered democrats were repeat offenders, many of which ended up getting the 3 strike award.

          It’s no secret to anyone with half a brain, that democrats are criminals.

        • Yes, he was a lone wolf looney, just like the Bernie Bro who shot my rep Scalise was. I’m sure he wasn’t just the first wave of an semi-autonomous organized lunacy that built in momentum and scope until its crescendo this past year. THAT would be crazy amirite?

  2. Howdy TTAG guysngals, I’m back. I was in the hospital for awhile, 3rd and 2nd degree burns on my legs and waist, burnt all my fur off, thought I was gonna die. got home and found t my place had been broken into, stole my phone, some money, TV, some tools and lord knows what else because I ain’t been feeling to whoopie to look around real goid. Woman taking care of the cat said she always locked the door but there wernt no windows or doors busted, probably her son? Ain’t got a TV yet but the woman did get me a phone. didn’t find my guns cause I gottem hid real good and I ain’t saying where, lol…… Yup the Trump Biden hating going on is getting out of hand. ,,,ulp feeling kinda puckey, then pain pills make me kinda sick. Possum on soldiers

    • When streets across America are full of violent Republican mobs burning buildings and attacking people for wearing Biden hats, you might be able to draw a comparison to TDS then.

      • Well you know, there’s 23 dead people in El Paso last year who found out about that conservative Violence firsthand.

        The mass murderer had all the standard TDS beliefs:

        Far-right extremism
        Anti-immigration
        Hispanophobia
        White supremacy
        Belief in the white genocide conspiracy theory and the Great Replacement conspiracy theory

        • Holy crap, you ust copied the “motives” from wikipedia but DELETED ECO-FASCISM.
          Guess facts didn’t agree with the bullshit you’re trying to peddle, so you just removed them.
          All you can do is lie. Every comment, every post. It’s all you know how to do anymore. You can’t even recognize the truth.

        • Nope, I read the footnote that the wiki article cites to support that claim and it’s ambiguous at best. The perpetrator in El Paso was anti-immigrant and adopted the platform of many of the white supremacist views, including the blood and soil doctrine. But he never actually advocated for any so-called Eco fascist group.

          But his anti-Latino, anti-Mexican bigotry is clearly stated in his manifesto.

          Thanks Trump!

  3. Oh man, he looks Toto Riina. I’m serious, go look up his picture. That guy was psychotic, I’d never forget his face.

    As for Aguirre, yeah he’s not going to jail. He’s prime candidate and fits every qualification to be rehired and promoted to sergeant.

    • I wish I didn’t agree with you, but it’s hard not to. If you’re a current or former cop, you’ll likely have the backing of the Thin Blue Line. Rules for thee but not for me and all that

  4. All those smiling, hand-shaking T.V. commercials and your little blue booties won’t fool us, AC man! Why you trying to cover up your footprints? Is that even your real name on your shirt?

  5. *IF* this is mental illness then it falls under one side of the TDS spectrum where Antifa is on the left and MAGA is on the right. But it isn’t mental illness. This idiot, i mean “patriot”, is no different than the BLM, Antifa, Proud Boys, and MAGA terrorists. Don’t coddle and make excuses for him, jail, prosecute, and hold him accountable as you would any other terrorist. Trump and his sycophants created this fool with the election claims, let the tangerine turd pardon him if he is so inclined.

    • The major difference between the left and right crazies is that the right will call out their own, but the left will bend over backwards to pretend that the left wing crazies don’t exist.

      • So that’s the party disinformation tactic, just another crazy?

        Unfortunately, the facts of the situation prove that’s just BS. This man was part of a well organized Republican election tampering effort.

        “Prosecutors say Aguirre was paid over a quarter million dollars by a private group called “Liberty Center for God and Country” to investigate alleged ballot schemes in the Houston area.
        Jared Woodfill, the center’s president, told CNN the group and Republican activist Steve Hotze hired a private firm that included “Aguirre, a former FBI investigator and about 20 investigators that investigated reports of voter fraud,” reports that were sent to Hotze. The Republican activist was also one of the plaintiffs who filed a petition prior to Election Day seeking to invalidate 127,000 ballots cast in drive-thru early voting. A federal judge rejected that request.“

        A corrupt organization, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to stalk and intimidate election officials.

        All part of trumps team to rig the election, unfortunately for the bad guys too many patriotic Americans voted Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris and office with a landslide.

        • Well this particular story just broke Miner. Everyone here lived through the Summer of Fiery but Mostly Peaceful Riots which were the most destructive in this country’s history, and included actual and attempted assassinations. We won’t forget how the media reported it. We remember how your boy Joe never called out the violence until months later when they realized it was hurting him politically.

        • Why didn’t you include the rest of the story, that all the money paid was from 1 dude, and he even said this guy is crazy.
          Oh wait, just like your comment above, the truth didn’t fit your story, so you deleted it.

        • “he even said this guy is crazy.”

          Oh yeah, he never met him, he was just a coffee boy, never heard of him…

          But the Republican operatives paid him and his team hundreds of thousands of dollars by their own admission, to conduct their ‘investigation’.

          So what were the results, couple dozen professional investigators looking for voter fraud, where is their report?

          Looks like all they caught was a self-own felony.

          More pathetic losers.

        • So where are the reports? Where is the fraud?

          All total BS, marketing claims for trumps fundraising efforts.

          “Aguirre, a former FBI investigator and about 20 investigators that investigated reports of voter fraud,” reports that were sent to Hotze.“

      • Ain’t that the truth. This ex cop is a piece of shit who should count his lucky stars that he didn’t get plugged, and I’ve yet to see a single comment from anyone on the right on any website supporting his actions, even though he’s “on our side”. But the leftists will bend over backwards to claim that the three facsists, two of whom are now deceased, who tried to murder Mr. Rittenhouse were totally justified in doing so

    • Your idea of a spectrum that starts with Antifa on one side and MAGA on the other is ridiculous.

      “Trump and his sycophants created this fool with the election claims, let the tangerine turd pardon him if he is so inclined.”

      More like four+ years of orange man bad derangement, russian collusion, impeachment, blaming the tangerine one for ALL covid deaths, social media actively suppressing political news, normal media ignoring the same…unless it’s critical of your tangerine friend of course…

      And then there is the widespread appearance of impropriety in several swing state election processes.

      But yeah, Trumps fault.

      • “blaming the tangerine one for ALL covid deaths”

        Actually, most epidemiologists and other experts are attributing approximately 100,000 to 150,000 of the Covid deaths to trumps inaction and misrepresentation of the dangers.
        As the tapes prove, Trump said he wanted to “play it down” so he intentionally misrepresented the dangers and discouraged mask wearing when he knew that it was transmitted via airborne propagation.

        And compare the totals, under Trump we’ve lost over 300,000 Americans to the “ordinary flu” while Obama Limited SARS deaths to under 17,000.

        • Really? Are you dumb enough to believe that, or do you just think we are?

          COVID and SARS have no equivalence at all.

          Obama did absolutely *nothing* about SARS — because nobody in the US needed to do anything at all. It was a self-limiting outbreak, not a pandemic.

          COVID is a pandemic because it’s more infectious and much less deadly than SARS — and that’s also why expecting any government (or any part thereof) to magically stop it is stupid. You can’t just stop COVID any more than you can just stop the flu.

          Global data says that lockdowns and government policies did nothing at all to stop the spread of COVID or reduce the death rate. https://www.aier.org/article/the-virus-doesnt-care-about-your-policies/ And you’re over in the corner muttering “but muh SARS…Obama…” like it means something. SMH.

        • Man you guys are so easy, you think you know so much about world history and current affairs but you are so easily fooled about the facts of history.

          “Obama did absolutely *nothing* about SARS — because nobody in the US needed to do anything at all. It was a self-limiting outbreak, not a pandemic.“

          Hilarious, Obama did nothing about SARS because he wasn’t president then.

          SARS occurred under George W. Bush.

        • “while Obama Limited SARS deaths”

          Those are your words. So I forgot to mention that Obama hadn’t been elected president at the time…Bush and O were both equally irrelevant, and your comparison is still stupid, no matter how you try to dance around it.

    • And in time will be revealed as an ANTIFA false flag operation. Too late however for the gun control laws enacted immediately after the event.

    • Sure. In basically every post-Columbine mass shooting in the US, initial reports have indicated that the shooter was a far right extremist and is there even a single case where they *havent* been proven wrong? Remember that attempted mass shooting at the Google offices? Everyone swore up and down that the perp would turn out to be an older white far right male extremist but it turned out that the (thankfully incompetent) attacker was a young vegan Muslim woman who identified with the far left.

    • They exist, they’re just part of the Republicans organized voter fraud efforts.

      In this one case, they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to employ armed agents to stalk and intimidate election officials, in this case assaulting an individual and threatening him with a lethal weapon.

      “Prosecutors say Aguirre was paid over a quarter million dollars by a private group called “Liberty Center for God and Country” to investigate alleged ballot schemes in the Houston area.
      Jared Woodfill, the center’s president, told CNN the group and Republican activist Steve Hotze hired a private firm that included “Aguirre, a former FBI investigator and about 20 investigators that investigated reports of voter fraud,” reports that were sent to Hotze. The Republican activist was also one of the plaintiffs who filed a petition prior to Election Day seeking to invalidate 127,000 ballots cast in drive-thru early voting. A federal judge rejected that request.“

      This group fits the definition of a ‘corrupt organization’ under the RICO statute, it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for election violations as well.

      Just more election tampering from the fraud team at the Trump organization.

      • Why are you leaving out the rest of the story? Why are you leaving out the offices held by Republicans that the same money man sued? Why are you leaving out that HPD says that this guy’s crazy antics were his own, and no other criminal charges will be filed?
        Is it because that’s the truth, and you can’t regonize the truth?

        • “HPD says that this guy’s crazy antics were his own”

          Of course that’s what they say, they don’t want to get any of this on them.

          Ex-Houston police captain, so was he crazy as he worked his way up to captain or did it just happen when he left the force? And just when did he leave the force, anyway?

  6. Yeah he’s crazy but at least he’s honestly crazy. A lot of people will act like this massive electoral Qanon conspiracy is all around us but do nothing but type on message boards about it. Maybe I owe him a apology if he posts here and I’ve asked when he’s going to start taking patriotic action.

    Now, give him a pat on the back for standing by what he believes and then throw him in the looney bin.

    • Loony bin?

      If he was so crazy, why did Republican operatives pay him and his team hundreds of thousands of dollars to conduct their ‘investigation’?

      And what about the other 20 members of his ‘investigative’ team, were they also stalking and intimidating people they thought were election officials?

      Maybe you are right, but I think this was much more a criminal enterprise.

      Ex-Houston police captain, member of two dozen man team financed with hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican operatives.

      Team stalks, and in this case, utilizes a vehicle in a reckless manner with risk of injury or death to unlawfully detain an individual he thought was an election official.

      Clearly, Republican operatives are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for armed individuals to interact illegally with what they think are election officials in Texas.”

      Felonious assault with a lethal weapon, vehicular assault with risk of injury and death, violent, physical unlawful detainment.

      All in the service of election tampering and election official imitation.

      This wasn’t a group of people, whipped into a frenzy by agitators, breaking the windows out of a store and stealing TVs.

      This was cold, calculating election tampering, supported by hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican operatives.

      No patriotism here, just pathetic losers.

      • I love posts like this. You, red wolf, Chief Censor, and enuf plus plenty of other “trolls” that say such ridiculous things that it can only drive gun owners together. It’s like a beautiful cross between satire of what the most deranged hoplophobe might say and personal attacks clearly designed to guarantee no one will ever listen to you. It’s brilliant!

  7. So let’s see their evidence of fraud, the republican operatives say they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring professional investigators to find the voter fraud. They stated they received reports, but they made nothing public.

    If they were truly investigating fraud, they would produce public reports to support their claims that the election was stolen.

    This wasn’t about investigating fraud, this was about intimidating election officials and tampering with an election, all financed by hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican operatives

    “At the time of the alleged crime, Aguirre was working as a contract investigator for conservative activist Steven Hotze. Hotze has made a name for himself for alleging widespread voter fraud in Harris County, even when none has been found. This fall, Hotze use the “Liberty Center” he funds to hire around 20 private investigators and other workers to investigate incidents of alleged fraud.

    “We paid our investigators closer to $300,000” said Hotze during an hour long news conference on Wednesday. Hotze and his attorney, Jared Woodfill, spent most of the time rehashing their allegations of massive voter fraud.

    When asked about Aguirre’s alleged actions, Hotze said the criminal charges are trumped up.

    “If they said he had a gun, why didn’t they take his gun away? Something smells there. I don’t know anybody who pulled a gun on anybody. That’s the first (time) I ever heard that. Obviously, we wouldn’t condone that. Nobody would,” Hotze said.

    When reached on the phone, Aguirre would not comment. However, his attorney did respond on Tuesday.

    “I think it’s a political prosecution. I really do,” said Terry Yates, Aguirre’s attorney. “He was working and investigating voter fraud, and there was an accident. A member of the car got out and rushed at him and that’s where the confrontation took place. It’s very different from what you’re citing in the affidavit.”

    Aguirre allegedly never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by the Houston-based Liberty Center for God and Country, with $211,400 of that amount being deposited into his account the day after the incident.“

    • I love posts like this. You, red wolf, Chief Censor, and enuf plus plenty of other “trolls” that say such ridiculous things that it can only drive gun owners together. It’s like a beautiful cross between satire of what the most deranged hoplophobe might say and personal attacks clearly designed to guarantee no one will ever listen to you. It’s brilliant!

      Cause if you really wanted evidence of fraud, you’d know they audited a Dominion Voting Systems bit for a county and found a 68% error rate.

      • “that say such ridiculous things“

        It is so ridiculous, there’s a 24 year veteran ex-captain from the Houston Police Department who is sitting in jail now on a violent felony involving a firearm worth 20 years. And the investigation is still continuing.

        Oh yeah, where is the 750,000 fraudulent ballots?

        With 20 investigators just in Houston, how is it that no one has collected Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick $1 million bounty for fraud evidence? And where are the reports that the Republican operatives claim these investigators were turning in?

        Dominion voting machine fraud? Then why haven’t they collected the $1 million from lieutenant governor Dan Patrick?

        Could it all be total BS, marketing claims by Trump and a half assed attempt to steal the election but more importantly raise over $200 million?

        Y’all has been snookered by an NYC city slicker, pathetic losers.

        But don’t feel bad, Trump has fooled much smarter people than you over the past few decades.

        • God, if I ever woke up and realized my life was as pathetic as yours, I’d give myself a lead cranial injection. 😂😂🤡🤡

        • I’m not the one Trump pull the wool over, that would be you and the other people of the gun who thought he was going to protect your rights when actually he compromised your rights via executive order.

  8. Poor guy, looks like he won’t be around much longer to testify about the details.

    Cleanup on aisle three!

    “Mark Aguirre, 63, was expected to make his first court appearance in Harris County. Instead, attorney Terry Yates said Aguirre has Covid-19, and brought his test results to the court.
    Yates said Aguirre “wasn’t doing well” when they spoke last night.
    The judge requested that they try again Friday and asked if Aguirre can appear via Zoom.
    Yates said they would try, but that Aguirre doesn’t have a phone and he’s not sure if he has a laptop.“

    They say he’s “not doing well” and has no phone…

  9. Looks like there’s some more fellas headed for the parade into federal court, and a shout out to the Kansas slave patrols for catching another runaway!

    “The dashcam video captured a horrific scene: a Kansas sheriff’s deputy in a patrol truck mowing down a Black man who was running, shirtless, across a field in the summer darkness after fleeing a traffic stop.

    Lionel Womack — a 35-year-old former police detective from Kansas City, Kansas — alleges in a excessive force lawsuit filed Thursday that he sustained serious injuries when Kiowa County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Rodriguez intentionally drove over him during the Aug. 15 encounter.

    Womack said in a statement that he hadn’t been speeding nor was he under the influence of anything when he was initially pulled over. His driver’s license, insurance and registration were up to date.

    “When the first officer turned his lights on, I pulled over and complied … exactly as you’re supposed to. But when three additional vehicles pulled up quickly and started to surround my car, I freaked out. That’s when I took off, it was a ‘fight or flight’ moment and I was going to live,” he said. “I felt like I was in danger. This was out in the country, late at night, and it was dark. So I ran for my life. That’s what you see in the dashcam video. I’m running in an open field, and I’m scared.”

    The graphic video is at the crux of the federal civil rights case filed by attorney Michael Kuckelman against the deputy in U.S. District Court in Kansas. The lawsuit argues that Rodriguez used excessive force and was “callously indifferent” to Womack’s civil rights.

    Womack had left the police department earlier in August with hopes of growing his own security business. He was on his way back home from a business trip to California when a Kansas Highway Patrol officer in western Kansas initiated a chase over “an alleged traffic violation,” according to the lawsuit. Sheriff’s deputies from Pratt County and Kiowa County joined in the chase.

    The car chase eventually ended on a dirt road, and Womack took off on foot across a nearby farm field.

    The dashcam footage from a Pratt County sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle shows Rodriguez using his patrol truck to catch up to Womack, who was unarmed.

    Rodriguez swerves his truck to hit Womack, knocking him to the ground and running over him. Womack rolls out from under the truck, his arms and legs flailing on the ground as someone on the video shouts, “lie down, lie down.” A deputy in the second patrol truck can be heard uttering an expletive as he watches what is happening.“

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