Woman with controversial anti-Trump sticker on truck released after arrest

Karen Fonseca, 46, walked out of Fort Bend County Jail Thursday night

RICHMOND, Texas – The driver of a truck featuring a sticker with an expletive directed toward President Donald Trump was arrested on an unrelated, outstanding charge.

Karen Fonseca, 46, was taken into custody just an hour after KPRC spoke with her Thursday.

Fonseca walked out of the Fort Bend County Jail with her husband Thursday night -- saying she was shocked to learn today there was a warrant for her arrest.

"I turned around and he told me there was a warrant for my arrest," she told. "I had no idea that I had one."

Channel 2 has learned Fonseca spent about four hours in jail on a fraud-related charge -- but she told us tonight she was unaware of the allegation.

"I'll get more into details on that," she said. "I have a lawyer I'll be talking to in the morning, my daughter has informed me. I have more to disclose on that tomorrow."

Fonseca's truck was pictured in a post on Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls' Facebook page. Nehls posted a photo of the back of a white pickup truck with a tinted back window and a large sticker that reads, "F*** Trump, and f*** you for voting for him."

Here was Nehls' caption of the photo:

"I have received numerous calls regarding the offensive display on this truck as it is often seen along FM 359. If you know who owns this truck or it is yours, I would like to discuss it with you. Our Prosecutor has informed us she would accept Disorderly Conduct charges regarding it, but I feel we could come to an agreement regarding a modification to it."

WATCH: Fort Bend County sheriff speaks about Facebook post on anti-Trump sticker

The post went viral, gaining more than 10,000 shares within hours.

In the comments on the post, Nehls posted context about the disorderly conduct charge: "(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly: (1) uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; (2) makes an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace."

Just a day after the post was made, on Thursday, Nehls had deleted the post. His office issued this 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."

"Why do you just put something out there, looking for someone that way and just retract it by taking it off and have nothing to say?" Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey said Thursday.

Healey said he would not accept charges for disorderly conduct considering current conditions.

"I was asking them not to file that case with my office, that I did not believe charges were merited without knowing more about the facts surrounding the display," Healey said. "We don't even get to the issue whether this is protected free speech or not. That's not the issue. The initial inquiry only is whether or not it tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace in reference to this particular language being displayed in a public place."

Fonseca said in the 11 months that she has had the sticker on the truck she has had no problems.

WATCH: Full interview of truck owner with F Trump sticker

"It's been overwhelming. People are stopping, wanting to shake your hand, wanting to take pictures with you and they're just, like, 'Stand behind what you believe in. Don't let anyone stop you,'" Fonseca said.

"The display has to tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace with, barring some evidence that had tended in the past to incite immediate breach of the peace, because apparently it's been displayed for 11 months. I would think it would be imprudent in a case that could not be made supported by the evidence and, as such, should not be taken," said Healey.

"I thought the whole thing was totally crazy. It's been on there for such a long time and we have so much positive out of it -- more positive that outweighs the negative," Fonseca said.

Healey cast doubt on the sheriff's assertion.

"The display has to tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace with, barring some evidence that had tended in the past to incite immediate breach of the peace, because apparently it's been displayed for 11 months. I would think it would be imprudent in a case that could not be made supported by the evidence and, as such, should not be taken."

The mother of 12 said she and her husband stand by the stickers and don’t plan on taking them down. Fonseca said she doesn’t understand why the sheriff didn’t contact her first, instead of posting on Facebook.

“I mean, look, y'all don't know me and y’all found me. He could have done that at the same time. It is an invasion of privacy and everything else because he put me on blast on his Facebook page,” Fonseca said.

As Nehls considers running for Congress, the office of his potential opponent, Rep. Pete Olson, issued this statement on the issue:

“Congressman Olson supports President Trump and is working with him to cut taxes and provide conservative solutions to strengthen our nation. He certainly doesn’t agree with the vulgar message displayed on the truck. But, unlike Troy Nehls, Congressman Olson would never use his position to threaten a private citizen or suggest that violating their right to free speech is acceptable. Nehls exhibited the kind of heavy-handed, authoritarian action we see from people who don’t value or understand our God-given, Constitutional rights.”

On Thursday, Fonseca was arrested on an unrelated charge -- fraudulent use or possession of identifying information.

Her husband, Miguel Fonseca, said he was surprised and questioned the timing.

"My wife called me, telling me they're coming to pick her up about something they said she did in 2015-2016," Miguel said. "I guess this sticker is causing a lot of problems but as I said yesterday, it's going to stay up there, no matter what."

Fonseca and her husband believe the arrest is in retaliation for the decal -- but they have no plans of removing it.

"The sticker remains and it will remain," Fonseca said.

Her husband is in agreement.

"The sticker's gonna stay on the truck. It's not coming off."

Fonseca was released on a $1,500 bond. She has a court appearance scheduled for Friday.


About the Authors
Keith Garvin headshot

Emmy Award-winning anchor, husband, dad, German Shepherd owner, Crossfitter, Game of Thrones junkie, chupacabra hunter.

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