Nothing to see here. Nothing at all. It’s just that a Texas motorist whose truck caught a lot of attention in the past 24 hours over a bold sticker in its rear window declaring, “FUCK TRUMP AND FUCK YOU FOR VOTING FOR HIM,” has since been arrested.
Karen Fonseca was not arrested because of the profane sticker, however. According to the Houston Chronicle, Fonseca was booked into jail shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday on a fraud charge related to an outstanding warrant, and her bail was set at $1,500.
Fonseca’s arrest comes after her name popped up in the news cycle after Fort Bend County, Texas, Sheriff Troy Nehls sparked social media ire after seemingly threatening to charge the owner of the truck with the profane display with disorderly conduct offenses.
Of course, that would be, for the most part, a pretty clear-cut First Amendment violation, a fact that the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas was quick to point out.
“Constitutional Law 101: You can’t ban speech just because it has ‘f@ck’ in it,” the organization posted in response to Nehls Facebook post. “Hey truck owner, feel free to contact the ACLU of Texas.”
Fonseca readily identified herself, noting that although the truck belongs to her husband, she often drives it herself. And she was pretty confident about her First Amendment rights, too.
“It’s not to cause hate or animosity,” the 46-year-old said about the sticker, expressing that she had no intentions of reaching out to the sheriff. “It’s just our freedom of speech and we’re exercising it.”
After Nehls’ comments sparked social media fire, he quickly seemed to retrace his steps, claiming that he was not threatening anyone, but had merely sought to maintain peace among those who may be incited by the sticker.
Never mind that Nehls is well-known for making controversial statements himself, like when he said, “Criminals who enter Fort Bend County could leave in a body bag,” the Chronicle notes.
Nehls, a Republican who is contemplating running for Congress, subsequently removed the photo from his Facebook and issued a statement:
The Sheriff made the post on his Personal page. The objective of the post was to find the owner/driver of the truck and have a conversation with them in order to prevent a potential altercation between the truck driver and those offended by the message. Since the owner of the truck has been identified, the Sheriff took down the post. Due to the hate messages he has been receiving towards his wife and children, the Sheriff will not be commenting on the matter further.
As it turns out, Nehls was already pretty familiar with the feelings the sticker brought up, noting that people sometimes take photos or shake their heads. Officers had already tried to pull Fonseca over but never could come up with a solid reason to write a ticket over the sticker. So she was more than ready to ignore the sheriff, for whom, it turns out, she used to work in the county jail.
But it seems that she won’t get away completely unscathed, with her outstanding warrant also coming to light in the face of all the controversy.
Read more at the Houston Chronicle.