Texas grand jury clears Planned Parenthood, indicts its accusers

A Texas investigation into Planned Parenthood on Monday culminated in an indictment — of the organization’s accusers instead of the group.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office announced that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast had been cleared in the two-month-long investigation.

But the grand jury did indict two individuals who were involved in making secret recordings of the group that were released to publicly discredit the group, which provides health services and abortions.

David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were indicted for tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony, and Daleiden was also indicted on the count of prohibition of the purchase and sale of human organs, a class A misdemeanor, according to the Harris County district attorney.

According to the Harris County District Clerk’s website, a warrant for Daleiden had been issued Monday evening. Daleiden’s Twitter profile identifies his residence as Irvine, California, where his group, the Center for Medical Progress, is located. The indictments were not yet available.

“We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a statement. “As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us. All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case.”