Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Ex-Galveston Judge Posts Fake Escort Ads of Ex-Girlfriends


Former Galveston County Court-at-Law Judge Christopher Dupuy has gone from posting Joel Osteen aphorisms on his Facebook page to posting fake prostitution ads featuring two ex-girlfriends, authorities say.

Dupuy was arrested July 2 in Galveston and charged with online harassment. He remains in Galveston County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bond.

One of the women told a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy in December that she'd received calls and texts from people saying they saw her ad on backpage.com, according to investigator Scott Hardcastle's affidavit. She was able to find the ad, which claimed she charged $70 for 30 minutes.

The woman later told Hardcastle that she's known Dupuy for 20 years and that
they had dated approximately 6 years ago, before she married someone else. She recently employed Christopher Dupuy as her attorney in divorce proceedings which were finalized in November of 2014. During his representation of her, Christopher Dupuy stated to her that he wanted to be in a relationship with her. Complainant declined the Suspect. She stated that this angered Dupuy and that he began monitoring her personal Facebook page and making comments to her regarding other males that she communicated with on Facebook. He would also copy photos from her Facebook account and send them to her with derogatory remarks about the pictures.
Hardcastle found the fake ad, which alleged that the woman was "VERY FETISH FRIENDLY" and would "guarantee you full satisfaction." A caption for the ad read "Looking for a sexy nurse?"

After the Harris County District Attorney's Office subpoenaed backpage.com, Hardcastle was able to trace the ad to Dupuy, who created it under the name "Don Tequila," which is the Facebook persona of an outspoken Dupuy critic.

Another ad featured a woman who said she'd broken up with Dupuy around August 2014; the ad included photos of her breasts, which she had texted to Dupuy. The woman also told Hardcastle that Dupuy had been harassing her since the break-up.

Dupuy has been in trouble before. According to a Houston Chronicle story, "his arrest comes two years after Dupuy, then a sitting judge, was indicted on 11 criminal charges relating to his conduct in office, including making false statements. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended him soon after his indictment. He was arrested twice before Thursday, once after his indictment and again three months later for contempt of court."

And that's not all:  "Dupuy was elected in 2010 in a race against the judge handling his divorce case. Complaints about his judicial conduct soon began piling up, including telephone threats against an attorney and for refusing to recuse himself from a case in which he was linked socially to one of the female attorneys. Meanwhile, he was defending two malpractice lawsuits filed before he became a judge and was going through his second bankruptcy, which the State Commission on Judicial Conduct said was filed to delay the cases and get rid of the judgments against him."

The story states that Dupuy pleaded guilty in September 2013 to two misdemeanor charges of abuse of office and perjury. He received two years' deferred adjudication.

Boy, it's stuff like this that can really keep a guy off those "Top Texas Lawyers" lists. We're curious to see where this one goes, and we'll keep you posted.

Update: We just heard back from the "real" Don Tequila, who tells us via Facebook
I am flattered - and honored - to have played at least a small role in the former judge's current felony charges. Given the great lengths he appears to have gone to cover his tracks (using a VPN with international IP addresses), I am perplexed that he chose the name of a frequent online critic as his alias for the fraudulent backpage account. Of all the names in the world, I am not sure he could have picked a worse name, other than his own perhaps, to signal to authorities that he actually posted the revenge porn escort ads. Maybe it was an inept attempt to frame a vocal critic? Or maybe deep down he wanted to get caught
Full Article & Source:
Ex-Galveston Judge Posts Fake Escort Ads of Ex-Girlfriends

See Also:
Texas Judge Christopher Dupuy Indicted on 8 Criminal Charges

1 comment:

Barbara said...

I remember the previous stories about this guy. A real piece of work.