A West Texas district attorney has opened a criminal investigation into fraudulent pamphlets mailed to children across Greater Houston, including League City, that falsely claimed to come from a transgender student organization.

Sarah Stogner, district attorney for Ward, Reeves and Loving counties, told Fox 26 Houston she is investigating the mailers as a potential forgery. Forgery is a state jail felony under Texas law, the Texas Tribune reported.

"If this ends up being legal, it is everything that is wrong with our current political climate," Stogner told the Tribune.

The pamphlets, titled the "Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide," were addressed to "Students Of The [Family Name] Family." They discussed student legal rights, emancipation and finding support outside the family. The mailers arrived in mailboxes across Greater Houston as early voting opened.

Shell company, fake address

The entity listed as the sender, Texas Transgender Student Union LLC, was registered in Wyoming on Sept. 2, according to public corporate records. Fox 26 reported that another LLC serving as the registered agent has been linked to hundreds of shell companies. KHOU 11 reported that Wyoming filings identify Taylor Newman as the organizer, with addresses in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Sources differ on the return address listed on the envelopes. Fox 26 reported it pointed to a location in Meadows Place that does not exist. The Tribune described it as a Houston-area post office box.

The Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), whose branding and event dates appeared in the pamphlets, said it did not author or authorize the mailers. TENT called the pamphlets "impersonations," according to KHOU 11. Mimi Marziani, one of TENT's lawyers, told the Tribune the pamphlet adopted the look and feel of TENT's real materials but mixed in information the group does not support.

Probe could expand to federal level

Stogner told Fox 26 she believes the mailers were politically motivated. She wants to identify who sent them and how they obtained families' addresses. The investigation's scope could expand to the federal level depending on what is unearthed, she said.

The Tribune identified Stogner as a Republican. She told the outlet that if the pamphlets were sent to motivate conservatives to vote, the effort was self-defeating.

Stogner's investigation follows two letters from state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to investigate the mailers' origin, according to the Tribune. In his second letter, Leach wrote that he had received new information suggesting the mailers may not have come from the group whose name appeared on them.