Cornell student and son of a Texas state senator was arrested last month for threatening to release revenge porn of his ex-girlfriend, a charge aided in part by a law his father voted for in 2015.
Industrial and Labor Relations senior Matthew Schwertner ’24 has been charged with harassment and threatening to publish intimate visual material over text messages he sent between Jan. 11 and Jan. 14 near Austin.
Schwertner allegedly sent his ex-girlfriend, who he last communicated with in July 2023, multiple intimate photographs of her and threatened to send the images to her mother and sisters unless she returned items he bought for her during their relationship, according to court documents.
When asked why he still had the photographs, Schwertner responded, “In case you acted like a 2 year old.” After repeated text messages from the victim asking Schwertner to cease communication with her, he wrote, “Its okay ur a poor mexican (sic) what can one expect,” in addition to several messages that referred to her with profanity.
A University spokesperson told The Sun that Schwertner is not currently enrolled at Cornell but did not disclose whether he is not enrolled as a result of his arrest. His information still appears on the Cornell directory as a student as of publication.
Schwertner’s father, Charles Schwertner, has been a Republican state senator representing District 5 in Texas since 2013. In 2015, he voted in favor of a bill to make revenge porn a serious offense, known as Senate Bill 1135. The senator’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2018, Sen. Schwertner similarly faced an allegation of sexual harassment when a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin accused the senator of sending her unwanted lewd text messages. He denied the allegation and an investigator determined evidence “did not support a finding” that he violated Title IX.
Schwertner was arrested on Jan. 16 and released on a bond of $15,000 for his felony charge of threatening to publish intimate photographs and posted a bond of $2,500 for a class B misdemeanor of harassment, as he allegedly sent repeated electronic messages in a manner likely to alarm, torment and embarrass the victim, according to court documents. Schwertner’s attorney did not answer a request for comment.
Schwertner will appear in court on March 8 for his pretrial conference.