Vanessa Tijerina Texas Senate candidate beaten, tortured as three men arrested. No known motive as Republican contender former criminal past raises questions.
A former Texas state Senate candidate has told of being ‘gagged, bound [and] tortured’ in a hotel —with authorities arresting three people in connection with the assault.
Vanessa Tijerina, 42, a Republican GOP contender who lost in the November election, said she received a call about meeting to discuss ‘something very important regarding her safety’ at a Texas Inn in Raymondville, KVEO reported.
‘They made it seem like they had something really, really important to tell me and they couldn’t tell me on the phone,’ Tijerina, 42, said in a Facebook Live video.
Instead, the Raymondville native was beaten by the group leaving her face severely bruised, eyes swollen and teeth damaged.
‘I was beaten. I was terrorized, bound, gagged, tortured,’ Tijerina said Monday in another Facebook Live video.of the attack which occurred on on Christmas Eve.
Targeted over her politics?
Tijerina claims that the group ‘stomped’ on her, leaving boot marks on her face.
‘I knew if I fought back that I would not live,’ Tijerina said.
Tijerina also claimed that the group ‘stole everything’ from her, including her children’s Christmas presents.
‘They stole my car. They stole my money. They stole everything from me,’ Tijerina said.
Amanda Salinas, Ariel Vera and Raymond Santana have been arrested in connection with the attack, police said.
Tijerina alleges another individual was giving orders for the attack over the phone, however that has not been confirmed by investigators.
No further details have been released about their involvement or the motive.
Prior criminal history as Republican party distances itself
Tijerina appeared to suggest that she knew who was behind the attack, saying ‘somebody wanted this done to my face.’
But the former Senate hopeful insisted that she ‘did nothing to deserve this.’
‘I was an innocent person,’ she said.
Tijerina ran for election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 27 last month. She lost the vote after securing 72,768 (35.2 percent of the total), compared to Democrat Eddie Lucio, who won 134,035 votes (64.8 percent), according to Ballotpedia.
Her defeat came one month after the Texas Republican Party announced it would no longer actively support Tijerina’s campaign, citing ‘multiple arrests and shocking evidence of driving under the influence.’
Police said they found ‘crack pipes‘ in Tijerina’s car in June, when she was charged with driving while intoxicated with child passengers.
Candidate for Texas Senate, Dist. 27, Vanessa S. Tijerina, caught snorting coke during a Live.
She was fundraising to pay ATTY fees to get her girls back… after being arrested during a standoff w PD#JusticeRGV #RGV #fridaymorning #worldsgonemad #Trollz #COVID19 #Cokehead pic.twitter.com/IDFKhPI80T
— JusticeRGV (@JusticeRgv) June 12, 2020
Former Green party contender but more criminal allegations
‘Her behavior does not reflect the values of the GOP of Texas, and we do not wish to promote anyone of her character,’ the party said in a statement according to Newsweek.
In 2016, Tijerina ran as a Green Party candidate, seeking election to the U.S. House to represent the 15th Congressional District of Texas.
That same year, she was arrested for a food stamp & medicaid scam which, according to court records, involved the congressional hopeful receiving thousands of dollars after falsely claiming she was part of a single-parent household.
The incident had been ‘politically motivated’, Tijerina old CBS 4 News at the time.
