#Texas attorney admits egging judge’s car over stay-at-home order

A Texas attorney and district judge hopeful is facing charges for allegedly egging the car of a judge — an admitted act of retribution over a stay-at-home order amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Eric Yollick, an attorney based in The Woodlands who is running for Montgomery County’s 457^th district court, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief in the March 27 incident that occurred as Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough left his office in Conroe.

“I threw one egg at Judge Keough’s car,” Yollick told The Post in an interview. “I did this for all the right reasons. Mark needed to get this message because he wasn’t listening to people.”

Yollick said he threw the egg at Keough’s Lexus SUV over the judge’s “unconstitutional” stay-at-home order in late March, which ran through April 17, according to Keough’s office.

Yollick had originally intended to give Keough the egg in a symbolic gesture “for laying an egg” with the order, but spotted the judge and took a different approach, he said.

“I wasn’t angry or anything,” Yollick said. “It was a humorous gesture between friends: ‘You laid an egg on Montgomery County, so here’s an egg for you.’ ”

Yollick said he then asked a female friend with him to snap a photo before getting paper towels to clean up the mess. Yollick also offered the judge $20 for a car wash, but Keough denied the offer, the attorney said.

Hours later, Yollick said he went to Keough’s home and the pair hugged, seemingly putting the incident behind them. The pair had been “good friends,” Yollick said, adding that Keough is the pastor at the church he attends.

But an April Fool’s Day fictitious new story then appeared in The Golden Hammer, an online publication previously owned by Yollick, further complicating the rift, he said.

The story, which is no longer available, playfully accused Keough of enacting martial law in Montgomery County, according to Yollick.

Critical Facebook posts Yollick made in response to Keough’s order also angered the judge, he said.

“It’s retribution by Mark Keough because he doesn’t like to be criticized for his lockdown orders,” Yollick said of the charge, punishable by a $150 fine.

Yollick is set to appear in court for trial on Oct. 7. He has no plans to drop out of the race for district judge, he said.

“No, I’m going to win the race, no way,” Yollick said Tuesday. “If anything, this shows that I am committed to the rule of law and the Constitution.”

Keough’s chief of staff, meanwhile, told the Houston Chronicle that the judge saw Yollick throw the egg at his SUV.

Keough reached out to police after the incident, but opted to wait after being told of a two-year statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge as the coronavirus pandemic took up a lot of his time, chief of staff Jason Millsaps told the newspaper.

Reached for comment Tuesday, Millsaps declined to elaborate due to an ongoing investigation, but confirmed the account provided to the Chronicle.

“It’s unfortunate that he would go around egging people’s cars, not just the judge’s car, but anyone’s car for that matter,” Millsaps said.