By Kelli Smith and Aarón Torres
McKinney GOP Rep. Frederick Frazier is expected to plead no contest next week to two misdemeanor charges of attempting to impersonate a public servant, the Hopkins County District Attorney said in an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
Frazier, a Dallas police officer and freshman lawmaker, will be given one year of deferred adjudication probation, Will Ramsay said Friday in an email to the complainant in the case. The Class A misdemeanors also each carry a fine of up to $4,000. Frazier also intends to plead guilty to criminal mischief, a Class C misdemeanor, and will face a fine of $500, Ramsay wrote.
Frazier did not respond to a text message Saturday afternoon. His attorney declined to comment. Ramsay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Collin County grand jury indicted Frazier in June 2022 after Paul Chabot, Frazier’s opponent in the GOP runoff, reported to McKinney police that some of his campaign signs outside a Walmart were removed. Chabot has said store officials told him someone who said they were a McKinney code compliance officer asked them to tell Chabot his signs weren’t in compliance.
Chabot has said a city manager later told him no code compliance officer had been to the store. One of his signs was taken from the area near the store days later.
Frazier has previously denied wrongdoing, calling the case a political stunt.
Frazier serves on the board of the Dallas Police Association and has been a law enforcement officer for about 28 years. Following the indictment, Dallas police placed him on administrative leave and launched an internal investigation. Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said Saturday that the investigation is ongoing and Frazier is on approved leave without pay.
Chabot, a retired Navy commander and deputy sheriff reserve, told The News in a written statement Saturday that Frazier targeted his campaign nearly two years ago and did “incredible damage to himself, the office of a public figure and that of a law enforcement officer.”
The first-term GOP lawmaker received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2022 midterm election, helping him win an election despite being under indictment.
But the Collin County representative was among the five area lawmakers who voted in May to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, who represented the North Texas county in the House and Senate and still lives there.
The Senate, however, acquitted Paxton of all charges — which accused him of sweeping abuses — in September. Since then, Paxton has campaigned against lawmakers who supported his removal. Paxton has endorsed Frazier’s opponent, Chuck Branch, in the March 5 GOP primary election.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently endorsed Frazier for reelection as the governor threw his support behind 58 House Republicans who supported creating education savings accounts — one of his top priorities in 2023. Abbott’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email Saturday afternoon.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
