RICHMOND, Texas – A woman whose profane sticker about President Donald Trump on her truck grabbed national headlines is considering suing Sheriff Troy Nehls, according to her attorney.
Karen Fonseca said during a news conference Monday that an apology from Nehls is not enough after the lawman posted a picture on Facebook last week of the decal on her pickup that read, “F*** Trump, and f*** you for voting for him.”
Fonseca called the sheriff's actions cyber bullying and a political witch hunt.
Her daughters said they support their mother and praised her for displaying courage.
"I don't like how people are judging us," said Lacie Lev, one of Fonseca's daughter. "You haven't been with my mom for 18 years. That's my hero, right there. She's my everything."
State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City), who organized the media event, said that Nehls actions could constitute an abuse of power.
Fonseca’s attorney also said that they would like the FBI to investigate Nehls’ use of his authority.
In his Facebook post, Nehls said he wanted to speak with the owner of the truck after he received several complaints about the sticker. He said that the district attorney may charge the owner with disorderly conduct. Fonseca told KPRC 2 the same day that she had no desire to talk to the sheriff.
The next day, Nehls deleted the post. That was also when Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey said he would not accept charges, considering what he knew about the case.
VIDEO: Woman at center of F-Trump sticker controversy speaks
Later, Fonseca was arrested on what deputies said was an outstanding warrant charging her with fraud. Fonseca bonded out of jail.
Over the weekend, Fonseca added a new decal to the pickup’s window that reads, “F*** Troy Nehls, and f*** you for voting for him."
Nehls issued a statement Monday that said he was hoping for a "calm and reasonable" discussion with Fonseca, but he now believes that is not possible.
Below is Nehls' full statement:
"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."