CIBOLO, Texas – Already in political hot water over a decades-old drug case, Cibolo Mayor Stosh Boyle is now in legal trouble because of it.
Boyle, 43, was arrested Friday after investigators with the Texas Attorney General's Office determined he tampered with a governmental record when applying for a place on the ballot in the 2017 election. In signing the application, Boyle swore, "I have not been finally convicted of a felony for which I have not been pardoned or had my full rights of citizenship restored by other official action."
Federal court records, however, show Stanley J. "Stosh" Boyle pleaded guilty in 1998 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute MDA, or ecstasy, and was sentenced to four years of probation.
According to the complaint, investigators did not find any record of Boyle receiving any clemency for the charge, and there is not a "deferred option" in the federal system.
A spokeswoman with the attorney general's office said the investigation is still pending but did not say what other charges could result from it. However, Boyle swore to the same statement when when he applied for the upcoming November election.
Tampering with a governmental record is a class A misdemeanor.
Boyle, who was in his early 20s at the time of his drug case, also faces possible removal from office for a similar reason.
The Texas Election Code stipulates that to be eligible for elected office a candidate must "have not been finally convicted of a felony from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities."
District 3 Councilman Brian Byrd brought Boyle's federal conviction to the City Council during a July 23 meeting, but Boyle refused to forfeit his office.
Now it will be up to his fellow members of the City Council, who will consider the allegations in a special meeting on Aug. 20. Removing him would require a vote of at least six out of the seven council members.
Even if he were removed from the mayor's office, there's a possibility Boyle could continue with his re-election campaign. Cibolo City Attorney Frank Garza said neither he nor the city secretary have the power to keep someone from running for office. That would require a judicial order, he said.
Boyle, who did not respond to numerous messages from KSAT, provided a lengthy statement through a spokesperson Wednesday afternoon:
"My political detractors may be greatly disappointed to hear this, but Mayor Stosh Boyle isn't going anywhere.
"This latest series of events amounts to nothing more than the politicization of our criminal justice system. Nowadays, if your political opponents can't beat you at the ballot box, they attempt to misuse our justice system to thwart the will of the voters. They've attempted to do this to President Trump, they tried to do it to Governor Rick Perry, and, now, they are attempting to do it to me. While I'm the latest target of this kind of dirty smear campaign, I certainly won't be the last. Sadly, the real victims are the the taxpayers of Cibolo who are having to foot the bill for this witch hunt.
"We have big issues facing Cibolo. I remain firmly in control and hard at work as Mayor and I'll continue to be so. If my political opponents thought otherwise, they were sadly mistaken.
"While my political opponents have not been successful in sidelining me, they have been successful in awakening a sleeping giant of Cibolo citizens who see this for what it truly is. These citizens are angry and they are going to demonstrate that anger with their votes in next November's city election. It will be a day of reckoning for those who have tried to pit their selfish political agendas against the good people of Cibolo and I'm confident the voters will extract a heavy price.
"The swamp is alive and teeming with leeches, rats and snakes, not just in our nation's capital, but right here in Cibolo & Guadalupe County, and all must be drained."