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FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (FOX 26) - The woman at the center of the controversial window sticker that reads, in part, 'F*** Trump' now has a new decal and she's defending her decision to add more obscenities to her truck.
At the center of this most recent free speech debate is Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls and Fort Bend County resident Karen Fonseca.
"The F-word on the back. It's not teaching your kids to say it or to know that word. Most of the children have learned it before they saw it on a vehicle," said Fonseca at a press conference Monday that took place on the steps of the Fort Bend County Courthouse.
The truck owner speaking with supporters, her attorney and family close by.
"A lot of people wouldn't have went this far with it. I know how the people are. They back down and he would've got what he wanted, but he messed with the wrong person, for one," said Fonseca.
Opinions mixed, especially after Sheriff Nehls arrested Fonseca on an outstanding, unrelated fraud charge. She posted bond and now feels targeted, even after the original Facebook post by the sheriff was deleted.
"To me, he's actually put us out there and more recognized than he ever has before," said Fonseca.
She says the positive feedback far outweighs the negative, even though she claims there's been some cyber-bullying.
"I just don't like how people are judging us because of what they hear," said Lacie Lev who is the daughter of Karen Fonseca. "You haven't been with my mom for 18 years. That's my hero right there. She's everything."
An apology by Sheriff Nehls, according to this truck owner, is not enough and more legal action against him is apparently on the table.
"It's not two wrongs make a right; it's making my statement and saying, 'if you're going to put me on blast and you want to gain some votes, let's put the real Troy out there," said Fonseca.
Sheriff Nehls issuing his apparent final statement following Monday's press conference saying:
The following is a summary as it relates to Karen Fonseca and the window sticker on her truck.
Last week, I received complaints from Fort Bend County residents regarding the window sticker on her truck, which states, “F*** Trump, and F*** You for voting for him.” The residents informed me they were offended at the language displayed on the truck, and I asked for a photo. I received the photo of the truck with the sticker, but the photo failed to display the license plate number of the truck.
I asked my office to post the photo of the truck with the sticker on my “Sheriff Troy Nehls” Facebook page, and obscured the offensive language. The intent behind the post was to identify the owner of the truck with the intent on speaking with that person(s) and have a conversation with the owner regarding the complaints I received and a possible modification of the sticker. My post also included my office phone number.
As a result of the posting, we received information which helped us identify the owner of the truck. Once we identified the owner of the truck, we took down the post. As a result of the publicity, we also received information that Karen Fonseca was wanted on a Felony warrant pursuant to a grand jury indictment.
Once we verified the outstanding warrant, steps were taken to serve the warrant. This warrant was served in a professional manner and without publicity on the part of the Sheriff’s Office. It is to be noted that the case surrounding this warrant was not one investigated by the Sheriff’s Office; we only served the Felony warrant.
The facts in this case as I see them are that Karen Fonseca wanted to place her feelings into the public realm by driving around with an obscenity on her vehicle. She got just that -- much public recognition. This recognition did not cause her to be indicted by a grand jury for Felony Fraud (this happened back in August of 2017), but it did bring the subsequent warrant to our attention and we did our job by arresting her.
In the beginning of this incident, I was hopeful that the person driving around with an obscenity for full view of all (including children) would be reasonable and would be willing to talk about coming to an agreed solution that satisfied her 1st Amendment rights while respecting the rights of parents and others offended by this display of an obscenity.
Having heard her talk in the public since the beginning of this, I am now quite aware that no such hope for a calm and reasonable discussion exists with her. This is sad and I hope that in the end she can come to see that just because citizens may have the legal right to do something, it does not always make it the right thing to do.
Neither I nor the Sheriff’s Office will be issuing further statements concerning this matter as it relates to these now past events as it only serves to bring added publicity to this display of obscenity.