Attorney Accused of Smuggling Aliens

Bizarre Tale Full of Misinformation and Speculation

Hello Friends,

We’re writing you this morning about a bizarre tale that broke over the weekend, about a Corpus Christi-area Attorney who was busted on the highway in Kinney County, and locked up for several days while being processed by Operation Lone Star, accused of smuggling illegal aliens in his car.

Atty Timothy Dan Japhet, Arrested in Kinney County, accused of Smuggling Illegal Aliens; Image Courtesy: Constable Jimmy Fullen/Facebook

Depending on where you’ve first read about the case, you’ve probably been subjected to all manner of mistaken reporting. Even the most complete, tame, just-the-facts source we’ve been able to find so far seems to have a couple of errors.

Here’s what seems to be the truth, as near as we can tell, until we’re able to get chapter and verse from Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe later Monday Morning (Aug 22).

Attorney Timothy Dan Japhet was apparently arrested somewhere in Kinney County, on Highway 674, with 4 illegal aliens packed into his car last week.

According to reporting by KIII-TV in Corpus Christi, and comments on his own Facebook page, Japhet was in the Eagle Pass area to see some clients and do a little gambling at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Indian Casino. He was apparently passing through the small town of Quemado which sits between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, when he stopped to let his dog out for a walk in some grass.

“He said a man approached him when he had stopped to let his dog use the bathroom. The man asked if Japhet would give him and his friend a ride. Japhet said yes, but then two more people suddenly appeared. Japhet said he protested but felt pressured to take them.”

—Attorney Dan Japhet, as paraphrased online by KIII-TV

This isn’t the most implausible story ever. Just almost. It is actually common for many people in this area to have tales of being approached by 1 or 2 illegal aliens, and then suddenly wind up in the company of many more than they bargained for.

In one case, a single alien asked a Kinney County rancher for directions to Uvalde. Then, suddenly there were 5 others nearby, telling him that now he’s going to give them all a ride. In his case, he had a pistol at hand, and was relatively safe in his pickup— telling them that there would be no ride— and they could start walking.

But we digress— this is Japhet’s story we’re trying to tell.

From here, Japhet spins a tense tale of driving down the road— not quite a captive, but not altogether comfortable with the situation either. According to him, he tried several times to get the attention of passing DPS, Border Patrol and others until sometime later he was pulled over. His tale meanders geographically, but near as we can figure, he somehow was in Kinney County, on his way toward Junction, instead of going to Del Rio as his passengers had requested.

You can read KIII’s reporting here: https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/bad-decision-corpus-christi-attorney-arrested-for-human-smuggling-says-he-gave-ride-to-hitchhikers/503-ea5ad239-01d5-4384-a3f6-c2b0f1722df5

KIII’s coverage seems the most accurate of what all is out there so far, but is actually falling short in several areas— not making it terribly clear how Japhet wound up in Kinney County, if he was trying to take his passengers to Del Rio. It also doesn’t really compute that the illegals wanted to go to Del Rio. That’s actually the exact opposite direction from where 99% of most illegals want to travel. KIII’s coverage doesn’t even mention Kinney County— though that may’ve been an editorial choice, judging matters all happening closely enough to Del Rio as to make no difference to their local audience.

What does jump out at us, is Japhet’s belief that charges against him will wind up being dropped. That will largely depend on 49th District Court Prosecutor Suzanne West— the D.A. in Del Rio/Val Verde County, who also prosecutes felonies in Kinney County, owing to the county’s small population and usually small number of felony cases.

DA’s overseeing multiple counties becomes quite common the further into West Texas one goes.

One imagines Ms. West will have to decide if Japhet’s tale seems plausible. And, if there’s sufficient evidence for a Grand Jury to indict the man.

One would think that indictment would be a slam dunk— Japhet was in a car with 4 illegal aliens. And, Japhet would hardly be the first accused smuggler to claim he thought he was just helping out some friendly hitchhikers. Indeed, if your average Border Patrol Agent had a nickel for every time they’ve had someone try to use the hitchhiker excuse, you’d have every Border Patrol Agent in the land scrambling to get into South Texas highway duty. There’d be fistfights as Agents battled to avoid plum assignments elsewhere.

In fact, there’s an argument to be made that not indicting and trying the man at this point, would only seem to lend credence to claims that Operation Lone Star is prejudicial— targeting poor, unconnected brown people.

So, just who is Dan Japhet, anyway?

His full name appears to be Timothy Dan Japhet. And, a quick survey of his Facebook page is kind of interesting.

He seems to be a Covid-19 skeptic, a George Floyd skeptic, and seems to have a beyond casual interest in Cryptocurrency.

Back up just a second. A George Floyd skeptic? Whaat?

Yep. Let’s get crazy. And check out this video on bitchute— where what appears to be a Corpus Christi Attorney named Tim D. Japhet, goes onto some kind of a internet conspiracy talkshow, to share his views and beliefs that George Floyd was not killed in 2020 by Minnesota Police— but actually died elsewhere. The man identifying himself as Japhet also says he was Floyd’s attorney at some point. Before we stopped listening to the thing, we also heard the same person claim that somehow someone scrubbed online records of Floyd playing college football, and then began erasing Japhet’s own personal records with the Texas State Bar.

The whole thing is bonkers. And it’s possible that the person on tape is not actually the same person arrested in Kinney County— but it would be one wild coincidence, don’t you think? How many attorneys named Dan Japhet are there in Corpus Christi, anyway?

Perhaps prosecutors will decline to seek charges, pending some kind of an evaluation.

Now that we’ve dived into the rankest swampiest pile of weeds in this thing— lets back up again onto some dry land—saner territory— and talk about some of the misconceptions that appear to be out there.

In at least some of the coverage out there on the internet— Japhet is referred to as a federally appointed immigration magistrate. That statement appears to be taken directly from Constable Jimmy Fullen’s original Facebook post. It may’ve been made in error— Japhet says he’s no sort of magistrate, and we believe him. Elsewhere on social media, Japhet does seem to indicate that he’s associated with the Lubbock Private Defender’s Office, which is overseeing many of the indigent defense cases associated with Operation Lone Star. It may be that this is what’s being referred to.

The man’s state bar entry is here. It doesn’t seem to list any kind of specialization or history with immigration cases, but such may not be necessary for someone defending against criminal trespassing charges.

In any event— there’s a lot to look into here. The story as it sits seems to be shy on a lot of the basics. The who, the what, the where, the when, and the why, and the how are all sort of tenuous, with variations depending on who is doing the reporting. And, a lot of the reporting elsewhere is unoriginal— it all refers back to each other. On at least one semi-popular conservative website, they’re linking to and citing as factual, what looks like 4th hand reporting by a content-farm ad-generating website that we won’t be linking to ourselves. Judging by the use of language on that website, it may be that the actual writing is being outsourced to workers in India.

Weird. Many such cases in the hinterlands of the Internet. Sad.

Later this morning, we’ll be sitting down with the Sheriff, and nailing down where the man was arrested. How he was arrested. How long it might be before charges are filed, or dropped, or what. And perhaps also if the man does indeed have any true connection with the LPDO, or if some word salad out there on the internet has just been misinterpreted.

As interesting as this bizarre tale featuring Mr. Japhet is, in the long run it will probably not amount to much for the State or Country at large.

So, let's take a look at something that will and has had more bearing on the border crisis. It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Todd Bensman’s reporting at the Center for Immigration Studies.

His latest is a deep dive into how selfies and social media are helping fuel and facilitate the border crisis.

In it, Bensman basically breaks down how an organic-seeming peer-to-peer network of people all telling each other how to navigate the process of coming to the US is driving more and more to press their luck.

In so many words— even as Secretary Mayorkas and other figures say “Don’t come,” people in Central and South America and other locations are all hearing from much more trusted sources—their friends and family— all saying: now’s the time, don’t wait, here’s how to do it. Muy facil.

And it’s not just about encouraging folks to come across the border— they’re also encouraging folks to hop on Governor Abbott’s buses, and make the trip to New York City.

How’s that work? Well, Bensman explains. We daresay, it’s this element of his writing that resulted in the New York Post picking up his work and sharing it with their readers, as the City struggles to cope with a fraction of the migrant presence that’s swamped the State of Texas so far. It is the failure to grasp this social media effect that may have authorities on the East Coast assuming that Texas is somehow “tricking” people onto buses, when in fact, the efforts of Texas officials may ultimately have very little to do with any given individual’s decision to get on a bus.

And on that note, we’ll call it a newsletter. Expect another newsletter in your inbox later today/this evening as we try and update this Japhet thing.

As always, this Newsletter is produced as independently as possible from our efforts at the Sheriff’s Office, and predates our employment there.

Any errors, misdeeds, or casual expressions of bewilderment made here are entirely our own, and should not be considered statements of policy or intent by Kinney County or the Sheriff’s Office. We mention this in the spirit of full disclosure, and also to remain in line with the County’s policies regarding social media.

Have a great morning— and if you happen to be in South or even Central Texas— think twice before picking up any hitchhikers.

We’ll see you again soon.