Midland County Judge Terry Johnson posted critic's Social Security number on Facebook in apparent retaliation

On July 18, 2026, Midland County Judge Terry Johnson used his official access to a restricted criminal-justice-information system to obtain an old, unredacted 2015 arrest-warrant record for Christino Rodriquez, a local citizen journalist who publishes government-accountability content online as "Nino America," and posted it to his personal Facebook page with Rodriquez's full Social Security number, date of birth, and driver's license number visible, captioned "Convicted felon trying to be a player." The underlying 2015 charges had been dismissed and Rodriquez was never convicted. The post came less than 24 hours after Rodriquez published legally obtained federal court records critical of Midland County government, including one lawsuit that resulted in a $150,000 county settlement over retaliation claims against a former county employee supervised by Johnson. The image showed selective redaction — Rodriquez's home address and phone number were blacked out, while his Social Security and driver's license numbers were left visible.

Midland ISD trustee Brandon Hodges publicly called the act identity theft under Texas Penal Code Section 32.51 and demanded Johnson's resignation the following day. Johnson refused to resign.

Updates

2026-07-27 — Rodriquez filed federal civil-rights lawsuit against Johnson [3]

Rodriquez filed a 26-page federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Midland-Odessa Division, alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment retaliation and a violation of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act. The suit argues the selective redaction of Rodriquez's address and phone number, while leaving his Social Security and driver's license numbers visible, supports the allegation that the disclosure was intentional.

2026-08-06 — Midland County District Attorney filed civil suit to remove Johnson from office [4]

Midland County District Attorney Glenn Harwood filed a civil lawsuit under Chapter 87 of the Texas Local Government Code to remove Johnson from office and called for his resignation at a press conference the same day. Harwood said the law required the suit to be referred to a district judge and prosecutor from another county, who would decide whether to proceed and whether to suspend Johnson pending the case.

2026-08-10 — Midland ISD trustee Brandon Hodges intervened in the removal case [6]

Hodges formally intervened in the Chapter 87 removal lawsuit to prevent it from being dismissed on procedural grounds, saying District Attorney Harwood's having filed the suit while simultaneously serving as DA created a "built-in vulnerability" that could be exploited to derail the case. Hodges said in his official release that he was "not going to let the Chapter 87 removal case against Midland County Judge Terry Johnson die on a procedural hit" and that he intended to "keep this removal proceeding moving and force a real decision."

2026-08-11 — Johnson admitted under oath to posting the restricted report [5]

In his sworn Original Answer to the removal petition, Johnson issued a general denial of the allegations overall but admitted individually that he posted the Midland County Warrant Services Name Summary Report to his Facebook page and that the criminal statutes Harwood cited were accurately stated. He denied lacking lawful authority to possess the document and said he did not have enough information to say how the restricted document came to him. Hodges, who has sought to intervene in the removal case, said Johnson "admitted under oath that he posted the report" and that "the only fight left is whether he had the authority to do it." The removal case remained pending.