Protest Organizer Dominique Alexander Arrested on Felony Theft Charges

Dallas County Sheriff's deputies arrested Next Generation Action Network head Dominque Alexander on Thursday morning at his home in North Dallas on theft charges stemming from a 2016 dispute with an employer. Police took Alexander to Denton County Jail, where he was booked and released on $1,500 bail.

Alexander is best known for organizing the July 7, 2016, police brutality protest where a gunman opened fire on law enforcement personnel. He told the Dallas Observer that he's being charged in this case because of his notoriety on Dallas' protest scene.

"I'm so beyond outraged," Alexander says. "This is a bogus-ass charge. It's ridiculous."

Alexander says the charge stems from a dispute with a former employer — he says he can't remember the name of the credit card processing company — over unpaid bills by clients Alexander secured as an independent contractor.

According to Alexander, he sold the company's services to several businesses that did not make good on their purchases. His former employer is coming after him for those unpaid funds, he says.

"This is a civil issue. If I owe this guy money, this is a civil issue," he says.

There are a few peculiar things about the arrest. According to the Denton County Sheriff's Office, the charge for which Alexander was picked up stems from an incident investigated by the Dallas Police Department, which did not respond Thursday afternoon to a request for information on Alexander's charges. Lt. Orlando Hinojosa of the Denton County Sheriff's Office said he had no idea why Alexander ended up at Denton County's jail, which is about 37 miles from Alexander's home. Dallas County Jail is less than 13 miles from Alexander's apartment. (Update 9/9: According to an indictment obtained by The Dallas Morning News the incident in question happened in Flower Mound, which is in Denton County. Alexander confirmed Flower Mound is where his dispute with his employer took place to the Observer. It is not clear why Hinojosa initially said Alexander was being investigated by the DPD.)

This is not Alexander's first run-in with the law. Before emerging as the voice of the Next Generation Action Network, Alexander pleaded guilty to causing serious bodily injury to a child in 2009. He received probation on that charge. In August 2016, Alexander was sentenced to two years in prison for repeated probation violations, but the judge counted the time he'd spent on probation as time served on his original sentence. Alexander was released just a few days after reporting to prison.

If convicted of the theft charges, Alexander faces between six months and two years in prison.