GOP chair charged with government document tampering

Charges against Bandera County Republican Party Chair Conrad Streigl are piling up as he now faces a Class A Misdemeanor accusing him of tampering with government documents alongside his felony fraud charge.

On June 13, Bandera County Attorney Janna Lindig filed the misdemeanor charge with the Bandera courts; that same day, former Republican Chair Lynn Haueter signed a sworn affidavit accusing Streigl of altering and falsifying digital records on the Texas Secretary of State website.

“Conrad John Streigl then (June 13, 2022) made a false entry into the governmental records maintained by the Secretary of State in that such false entry showed Becky (Rebecca) Gring as ‘withdrew,’” Haueter claims in her statement.

The accusation stems from changes Haueter claims Streigl made to state agency records.

Haueter says she marked Gring — who ran unopposed for the Bandera Republican Party Precinct 410 chair seat – as the “chair elected.”

However, her affidavit claims Streigl altered the document to mark Gring as having withdrawn from the role on June 13 of last year.

This action led the dispute to be settled by Texas Judge Keith Williams, who ordered the party to adhere to Texas Election Code.

Gring was back in her seat by November of last year despite accusations by Streigl that she never should’ve been on the May 2022 ballot because she intended to withdraw her candidacy.

“I later realized the former Precinct 410 chair was not going to run so I decided to stay. I did not officially quit. Mr Streigl had no authority at that time,” Gring wrote in a Letter to the Editor to the Bulletin last November.

Following her election in May, Gring was replaced by John Mata as the precinct chair on both the Bandera County GOP and Texas Secretary of State’s websites.

The Bandera County Attorney filed suit in the 198th District Court last year arguing Juan Mata unlawfully held the position under Texas Election Code, including lack of residency in Precinct 410. He is a registered voter in Precinct 407, and his first name is listed as Juan on his voter registration.

Gring is currently listed as precinct chair on both websites, Mata as the party’s sergeant at arms.

The misdemeanor charge against Streigl was set for arraignment July 11. Streigl, who is being represented by San Antonio attorney Mark Barrera, of The Barrera Firm, successfully filed a motion for continuance, pushing his arraignment to Aug. 1. This is the second charge to be filed against Streigl regarding actions taken during his tenure in the Bandera County GOP, as he still has a state jail felony charge pending alongside the party’s local treasurer, Cari Renae Leith.

The two party members could face up to two years in jail on the accusations of fraudulently securing document execution in an amount between $2,500 and $30,000.

The felony charges, which will be heard and tried in the 198th state District Court, stem from a complaint also filed by Haueter last year accusing Streigl and Leith of unlawfully removing the thenchair from the Republican Party’s Wells Fargo Bank accounts.

Haueter accused the two of replacing her access with three other members and initiating a new dual- signature requirement to access the account.

“She was replaced by three individuals with equal access and a new dual signature requirement was imposed before there was no such requirement,” Streigl previously told the Bulletin when confirming Haueter’s removal.

Several motions have been filed by Streigl with the 198th district court, including an attempt to alleviate some of his bond conditions and a motion seeking exceptions from his indictment.

As part of Streigl’s release from jail on the felony charge, a curfew was instituted, and he was denied the right to possess a firearm — just two of the bond conditions he’s seeking relief from.

Streigl is set to be before a judge in the 198th on Aug. 3.