Jeremy Alcede has gotten himself into hot water once again. He originally popped up on TTAG’s radar when he came out in support of Frank Lautenberg’s and Carolyn McCarthy’s attempt to ban online ammo sales. This time the dispute is over…wait for it…his Facebook page. Alcede is the now former owner of Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas. Alcede lost his business during bankruptcy proceedings back in December of 2014 and Boyert Shooting Center took over all of his remaining assets. Boyert asserts that Alcede’s Facebook page and followers are part of the business’s assets and sought court assistance to force Alcede to hand them over. Boyert claims the page’s followers are “valuable assets and should stay with the company.” The courts have so far agreed . . .
Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Jeff Bohm, rejected Alcede’s claims of “freedom of speech” because Alcede claimed he mostly posted about personal matters on his page. The judge maintains the page is a business asset and has ordered it to be handed over to Boyert Shooting Center.
The order is directly contradicting Facebook’s written page guidelines prohibiting the transfer of a page without written permission from the social media outlet. The judge claimed his demands that Alcede turn over his page were done to “stop the barrage of vitriol that Mr. Alcede currently posts” there.
According to wsj.com, Facebook was contacted early Friday morning and has not responded.
Late last week, a bankruptcy judge ordered Mr. Alcede—a self-described PR genius and Second Amendment champion who posted anti-Obama rants outside the suburban Houston store—to turn over the passwords to the new owner of Tactical Firearms.
Mr. Alcede refused to do so and is now behind bars. In order to get out of jail he must turn over his Facebook passwords.
Judge Bohm detailed what he described a “manifestation of this genius” in his opinion:
“While Mr. Alcede was in charge of the debtor, the debtor was known for its marquee displaying messages promoting gun rights and criticizing President Barack Obama—no doubt with the objective of increasing gun and ammunition sales. Such messages include: ‘I like my guns like Obama likes his voters/undocumented,’ ‘Threatening to sue POS Obama and pro open carry is why I love Greg Abbott,’ ‘Honk if you support open carry/Don’t tread on me,’ ‘We have hit Barack bottom/go vote red,’ ‘Does one of Obama’s family members have to be beheaded for ‘change’ to happen?’ and ‘Will trade Obama to Mexico for Sgt Tahmooressi/God help us all.”
“PR genius” or not, Alcede certainly has a flair for getting his name in the news. How long he’s willing to hold out, living at the taxpayers’ expense is anyone’s guess.