Cherokee County Tax Assessor bookkeeper Gina Upshaw admits to stealing tax payments for years.President Trump created the National Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by J.D. Vance, to stop waste and abuse of taxpayer money. On April 7, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) to prosecute fraudsters whose criminal cases conveniently never see the light of day. The mission is for the federal government to step in with more resources and take the reins prosecuting crimes against the American people.
Cherokee County, TX:
Cherokee County is incapable of properly prosecuting their own government employees who blatantly steal from the county coffers. Cherokee County Tax Assessor bookkeeper Gina Upshaw, 65, from Jacksonville, embezzled $431,375.91 off the tax roll. The theft occurred between Oct. 2016 through Dec. 2021. She was arrested and indicted in 2023 after an outside audit confirmed the missing funds. After years of failed jury selections and trial postponements, the DOJ finally stepped in and took over her case. Upshaw had also worked in the County Clerk's office in the past and had been responsible for county elections. During the height of her embezzlement, she received her 15-year Cherokee County service award. Gina Upshaw's state criminal case had stalled out on the Cherokee County dockets, while prosecutors and district judges kicked the can down the road. Early this year, the DOJ quietly moved in and took over her prosecution under the new federal NFED program. (Source: Federal Prosecutors: Cherokee County Bookkeeper Stole Daily Cash Payments For Years, Dallas Express Aug. 12, 2026)
Cherokee County couldn't pick an impartial judge and jury to hold Gina Upshaw accountable under state law. As the clock ticked down, Upshaw saved up enough in restitution to accept a plea deal under her attorneys' advice. The public is now supposed to believe prosecutors' claims that Upshaw had her hands on cash-only payments with no digital receipts. In Texas, management of the local property tax roll is a shared responsibility between two distinct local entities: the Cherokee County Appraisal District, which create and maintain the preliminary appraisal roll, and the County Tax Assessor-Collector, who calculates and manages the final tax roll used for billing. The Cherokee County Tax Assessor's Office runs the online property tax payment processing in conjunction with the Cherokee County Appraisal District, where the assessment roll was skimmed. Lest we not forget, prosecutors ignored the county judge's secretary using her notary to fake a Power of Attorney, and Abbott's AG office did nothing about the complete financial collapse of Lon Morris College. (Source : 2 Cherokee County employees arrested for allegedly tampering with government document - KETK)
Circa 2019,Gina Upshaw receives her 15-year Cherokee County service award, while stealing hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. (Daily Progress)
On August 11, 2026, Gina Upshaw pleaded guilty to embezzlement before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love in the Eastern District of Texas, agreeing to a 2-year prison sentence and to pay back about $431,000 without interest. (Source: Former Cherokee County bookkeeper pleads guilty to embezzlement -KETK) Federal prosecutors say Upshaw pocketed "daily cash deposits" on her way to the bank, which is highly unlikely with online electronic payments. Where are the receipts? Folks don't pay cash when they renew their car titles. She obviously concocted an elaborate money laundering scheme prosecutors don't want to divulge to the next government fraudster. As part of her plea deal, Upshaw gets to remain quiet on her 'cooking the books' methods that duped county auditors. The fact is Upshaw was in control of the county tax roll database and payment system, was overcharging and not reporting it. She was no underling clerk with an unsecured money box. She managed the accounting of the county's arbitrary tax rates. Cherokee County property taxes have skyrocketed as a result, with surging property appraisals levied on non-commercial land owners to cover the deficit. Defrauded taxpayers will never see their reimbursement checks.
Gina Upshaw will pay back the allegedly stolen "cash payments" of $431,375 as part of her plea deal.
In 1990, Smith County convicted Jacksonville, TX resident Bobby Michael Dennis on his third felony for Aggravated Robbery. He was sentenced to 5 years TDCJ Huntsville. After his third strike, Cherokee County arrested Bobby Dennis in 2011 for AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON, released him on a $20,000 bond and back onto the streets of Jacksonville. Almost 15 years later, it took nearly killing a police officer to get federal prosecutors involved in Bobby Dennis' dismissed gun charges.
(Nov. 19, 2025) The Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office has chargedBobby Michael Dennis, 64, on federal firearms violations after a four-day manhunt in the Jacksonville area early this month. Dennis opened fire with a stolen AR-15 on a Jacksonville police officer issuing an outstanding arrest warrant stemming from a firearm theft in June 2025. Following the shooting, Dennis was placed on Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Lists and Gov. Greg Abbott's office tacked on an additional $10,000 reward for his capture. Bobby Dennis' local bond is set at $1.3 million. He faces life in prison.
What happens in Cherokee County stays in Cherokee County.
Bobby Dennis had been convicted in Arkansas for felony domestic violence and drug possession; and again in 1990 for aggravated robbery in Smith County, Texas. He was released from prison 5 years later. That didn't stop him spending the next 15 years driving around drunk and high without a license or insurance in Cherokee County. Beginning in 2005, Bobby Dennis was arrested over ten times for the same crimes, but never saw inside a Cherokee County courtroom after his charges miraculously vanished with "time served in the Rusk jail" and unenforced probation deals. In June of this year alone, he was arrested during a traffic stop and released on nine charges:
#1 THEFT OF FIREARM #2 Unlicensed carrying weapon (by a felon) #3 Possession of marijuana less than 2 ounces #4 Speeding #5 No motor vehicle liability insurance #6 Violation promise to appear for speeding #7 Failure to display license plates #8 No motor veh liability, 2nd offense #9 Failure to appear
According to Cherokee County arrest records, three-time felon Bobby Dennis was arrested for multiple drug, gun, and motor vehicle violations over the years, released on bail, and not prosecuted. 20 years of Cherokee County, TX criminal cases against Bobby Dennis, a Jacksonville resident with three prior felony convictions:
06/19/2005 - DUI/Fake license plates 11/29/2007 - Motion to Adjudicate DUI 04/26/2011 - Aggravated assault w/deadly weapon 04/15/2016 - 2nd DUI 12/12/2018 - Motion to Withdraw 2nd DUI charge 01/15/2019 - DUI "2nd" Offense 09/11/2020 - Violation of bond 11/13/2024 - Speeding, failure to appear, no insurance 06/25/2025 - Theft of firearm, marijuana, speeding, no insurance 11/05/2025 - Attempted capital murder of a police officer
Three strikes and he's still in the game.
By 2017, Bobby Dennis' relationship with Jacksonville authorities began to detoriate into interlocal disputes. What to do to with a habitual offender getting too old to be of value to the district attorney and narcotics officers? Dennis' encounters with Jacksonville police escalated over the years as his multiple charges continued to be dismissed. According to local accounts, law enforcement's catch-and-release was just an entertaining game of cat and mouse. In 2024, Dennis filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville claiming his rights were being violated by the municipal judge, city attorney, and police department. The suit was dismissed October 2, 2025. Eastern District of Texas (Case No. 6:24-cv-00247)
Getting Greg Abbott's attention.
To reward Cherokee County district courts on their stellar performances this week, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the 369th District Court judge as the interim 12th Court of Appeals justice. Michael Davis sits on former 369th District Judge Bascom Bentley's bench for the counties of Anderson, Cherokee and Leon. His appointment to the Tyler Court of Appeals vacancy begins Nov.1 and is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2026. Abbott's and Davis' offices have made no public comment on how many times convicted felons possessing firearms have had their charges dropped before shooting police officers. Abbott also shuffled the Cherokee County District Attorney into Judge Davis' vacated 369th District Court position. The area has not only become one of Abbott's favorite neck of the woods, but for those repeat offenders who should have been incarcerated long ago under Texas' Three Strikes Law. (Source: Office of the Texas Governor | Greg Abbott)
District judges serving Cherokee County can swear
they've never seen the likes of Bobby Dennis in their courtrooms. (KETK).
National security is trumped by East Texans selling real estate to illegal aliens
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) was established in 1990 under the U.S. Treasury Department to combat illicit financial activity. FinCEN collects data on foreign bank transactions including the Mexican cartel fentanyl trade and money laundering that finances terrorism. It operates under regulations spelled out in the Corporate Transparency Act enacted in 2021. One CTA rule was the reporting of cash and non-cash real estate transactions, including the personal information of foreign nationals involved in land sales. Revised rules will go in effect in December 2025 that exempt US citizens and companies. (Source: Federal Register, March 26, 2025)
Addressing small business compliance concerns, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent adjusted Beneficial Ownership Reporting (BOI) requirements for US formed companies, requiring only foreign entities to report their business transactions within the United States. US citizens working within foreign companies are not required to participate. The Texas Farm Bureau lauds the pending regulation overhauls:
That means Texas farms, ranches and agricultural businesses will no longer be required to submit information regarding individuals with major roles in those businesses. This applies to both existing businesses and new businesses established as corporations, limited liability companies or limited trusts in Texas.
“It is important to reign in burdensome regulations to the benefit of hard-working American taxpayers and small businesses,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. (Texas Farm Bureau, April 15, 2025)
Despite the national security benefits and ease of use, the FinCen is
facing a local legal challenge on its "personal data collection"
policies. Because the Trump administration is cutting out the administrative paper pushers and doing something good for commerce every voter agrees with, some immigration law firms hope to pull a Letitia James by attacking it and calling it bad. They'll openly file in court that cutting waste and fraud is akin to identity theft, like they do scaring old people with Social Security overhauls. They can't have Trump winning on an issue they make their livings exploiting. And like Letitia James, they get paid to invert reality when their red tape is cut.
Every small business owner knows how easy it is to submit financial records such as their updated BOI to the IRS. Even with the streamlined reporting process and the fraud deterrent, East Texas land developers and their cronies plan to file lawsuits to block the reporting rules of foreign transactions. Illegal aliens pay cash when they put a down payment on a house, while the title is held by the same developers financing them. This results in massive fraud and abuse that was even recently prosecuted by the Biden DOJ. (Source: United States v. Colony Ridge Development, LLC (S.D. Tex.)- Dec. 2023)
The Eastern District of Texas is always the testing ground for counterintuitive lawsuits and ridiculous judgments. The East Texas Title Company, servicing RINO Colony Ridge territory, has partnered with the west coast Pacific Legal Foundation to block reporting of cash real estate sales to non-citizens.
Texas title companies are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and related anti-money laundering regulations. Specifically, they are required to comply with FinCEN's regulations, which include record keeping and reporting requirements for certain real estate transactions. These requirements aim to prevent and detect money laundering and other financial crimes.
Interim FinCEN rules apply only to transactions involving foreign nationals. Why would an East Texas land title company sue the federal government
for helping their business lower their own insurance risks? No more land title record searches at the county courthouse? It's preposterous enough to make it up to the Fifth Circuit docket. Their attorneys claim the US Treasury is "unethically collecting data from citizens," when in reality their litigation is design to protect the anonymity of foreigners buying up property for illegal alien settlements. Like those in Colony Ridge located in Montgomery County, courtesy Texas Senator Robert Nichols and former State Rep. Ernest Bailes and HB 4341. (Source: Texas Attorney General, Oct. 19. 2023)
On April 14, 2025 Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit arrested two illegal aliens for the continuous rape of a 14-year old girl. David Rey Santoyo-Penaranda and Gary Morales-Alarcon have both been charged with the continuous sexual assault of a child and are currently on ICE detainers. (Source: Woodlands Online, April 14, 2025)
Those 40 million illegal aliens have to live somewhere.
The Pacific Legal Foundation is advertised as a pro-business "libertarian" non-profit law firm headquartered out of California Governor Gavin Newscum's backyard in Sacramento. They are funded by Who's Who of Never Trumpers, namely the billionaire Koch Brothers who are suing the Trump administration over tariffs. Can't have the government bring back high paying jobs to America or flood the economy with foreign investment. That's a Liberatarian nightmare. They'd rather have drug cartels investing in real estate.
Anyone with two working brain cells understands Texas title companies would save millions on title insurance claims by properly documenting real estate transactions, protecting both new property owners and mortgage lenders from claim conflicts. So why the smoke and mirrors? Does the TDI endorse this lawsuit? Of course not; it's a shell game betting on the legal ignorance of potential East Texas jurors. It's not about some extra paperwork involved in notifying the federal government of a real estate transaction with a foreign entity. It's an attempt to obfuscate a federal regulation that exposes who the sellers and buyers of East Texas property actually are as more land gets gobbled up by drug cartels, Chinese nationals and Fundamental Islamist communes. (Source: Community divided over proposed Muslim-focused EPIC City in Collin County amid state investigations, April 1, 2025 CBS)
Even John Cornyn has called for a DOJ investigation of the proposed Islamic EPIC city south of Dallas (after voting to fund the Islamic revolution"charity" on the State Department Watch List).
East Texas Republicans under Dustin Burrows and Joe Moody's leadership may not be spending much time working on legislation in Austin this session, but their donors are busy rounding up out of state attorneys to protect the identity of shady real estate transactions. Where does US Rep. Nathan Moran stand on alien enemies and terrorist organizations hiding their cash land acquisitions? The Texas 89th Legislature can't pass property tax relief, but your local state senator can push bills making it easier for illegal aliens to purchase vehicles cash in hand. Of all the specious legislation Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) is pushing this session, SB-1902 keeps the old license plates on sold cars. Can't have illegal aliens chasing down vehicle titles and registrations after they purchase their new home next door. Karl Rove and Beto O'Rourke would be proud.
