Did this magistrate judge abuse his power to smuggle humans into the country?
Timothy D. Japhet is an immigration attorney from Corpus Christi and a federally appointed magistrate judge here in Texas. He’s also an alleged human smuggler according to Kinney County Constable, Jimmy Fullen.
Mr. Japhet was arrested transporting 4 adult men near the city of Brackettville in Kinney County, a Texas border county west of San Antonio. We know extremely little about this case except that according to the Texas Bar website Mr. Japhet’s law practice is in Corpus Christi, TX and he was arrested near the border roughly a 3.5 hour to 4.5 hour drive away.
According to the US Border Patrol the men in his car were illegal immigrants and he was likely smuggling them into the country. Mr. Japhet however claims he only picked up hitchhikers south of Del Rio, TX after gambling at the Lucky Eagle casino in Eagle Pass, TX. The men wanted to be taken to San Antonio and Mr. Japhet claims he got nervous going that far so he started speeding to get pulled over. The Constable however, according to Click2Houston, refuted Mr. Japhet’s claims that he was trying to get help from local police.
Mr. Japhet spent a week in jail and has since been released. He has been officially charged with human smuggling.
If the name Timothy D. Japhet rings some weird bells for you, it is because in 2020 there were rumors circling around the web that he claimed that he was George Floyd’s lawyer and that Floyd died 3 years earlier in a Corpus Christi, TX hospital.
OK, I checked, and Timothy D. Japhet is indeed an attorney in Corpus Christi TX, so I believe this is legit. You need to enlarge the image to read it, but it makes significant observations and asks good questions about the Floyd incident. Thanks Feisty Cat @CHHR01 for Tweeting. pic.twitter.com/ulmViz8ajY
— James Perloff (@jameseperloff) June 8, 2020
Thanks Y’all:
Thanks to Robert Arnold of Click2Houston.com. We paraphrased some of the back and forth conversation about this case that he included in his article. For full quotes, photos, and more read his article here: Corpus Christi attorney arrested, accused of smuggling
Featured photo a compilation of photos by Constable Jimmy Fullen as embedded above
