Fort Worth: Estate loses animals and tax breaks days after I-Team investigation

FORT WORTH – Days after CBS News’ Texas I-Team uncovered an illegal dumping site in Fort Worth, the property lost its property tax break and many of its animals.

In May, we saw a trailer dump more than half a dozen horses on the property on Randol Mill Road. Now, just weeks later, they are in the care of the city of Fort Worth. Animal control, bylaw and police officers worked together this week to capture them as part of an “ongoing investigation.” Officers also picked up one of two donkeys that had been on the property for at least several months.

The seizure took place while the Tarrant Appraisal District is also taking another look at the property.

Property records show the land is worth nearly $1.4 million. It received an agricultural tax exemption in 2017; since then, the owner has paid less than $200 in property taxes each year. According to an application filed this year, there were horses, goats and chickens on the property. But when the I-Team visited the address several times this spring, we found no sign of those animals, just two donkeys.

Then TAD asked the owner to reapply for the exemption and suddenly the horses arrived.

Two days after our initial I-Team report, TAD inspectors visited the property. According to TAD records, the owner claimed the horses “remained on the property year-round,” but inspectors said the evidence suggested otherwise. They found there was “very little manure” and no “well-used trails to and from the pastures.”

TAD rejected the application and revoked the exemption.

But the garbage dump remains.

Records show Fort Worth police officials and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality investigated the landfill in May 2022, with the TCEQ ordering the property owner and property manager to remove all debris.

Property records indicate that the property is owned by Dorex, Inc., a company with a residential address in Dallas. We could not find a website or phone number for Dorex, and the man who answered the door to the house said he knew nothing about the property.

A woman named Shahida Ejaz is listed in business records as a director of Dorex. According to a 2022 TCEQ report, investigators communicated with Ejaz’s son, Shahzad Chaudhry, and listed him as the owner of the property.

Chaudhry, a former Democratic candidate for Congress, has denied he owns the property and refused to speak to the I-Team for weeks. This week, Chaudhry said through his attorney that his mother owns the property but is out of the country and has taken medical leave to return and deal with the matter.

Fort Worth City Council member Gyna Bivens said she has spoken with Chaudhry and he has a TCEQ agreement to clean up the property. According to Bivens, there is a 30-day deadline after the agreement is signed to remove the debris. “He wants to commit all of his resources,” Bivens said. “Equipment is needed to get those tires out. Equipment is needed to haul that trash away.”

A TCEQ spokesperson confirmed that the agreement includes a $15,000 fine, which would be reduced to $12,000 if at least a partial payment is made by June 10.

Neither Chaudhry nor his lawyer would answer questions about the conversation with Bivens. However, he said he and his brothers were trying to “resolve the issues with the property, although they have no legal responsibility.”