Tarrant County Justice Of The Peace Pleads Guilty To Tampering
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3 in Tarrant County has pled guilty to Tampering with a Government Record. Judge Russ Casey "immediately resigned his position" after admitting to the felony.
In January casey dropped his re-election bid when the Tarrant County Sheriffs Department launched a criminal investigation into allegations that he forged dozens of signatures on his campaign petition.
After agreeing to a plea deal and resigning, Casey released a statement that said, in part, "I apologize to the citizens of Tarrant County, the Tarrant County Republican Party, my family and friends for the way that I have ended my judicial career."
By law, judges are required to file a petition with voters' signatures to be placed on the ballot. A statement released by the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office said a joint investigation by sheriff's and their office revealed that "many of the 318 citizens' signatures on the required petition Casey submitted were not given by the actual citizens."
Casey was sentenced to five years probation, fined $1,000 and is forbidden from being on the premises of the Southlake Government Complex and Tarrant County Northeast Courthouse.