Ken Paxton’s $1,000 Stolen Pen Incident

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s divorce proceedings have brought back a 2013 incident where he was caught on security footage at Collin County courthouse pocketing another man's valuable pen.

The original incident happened while Paxton was still a state senator. Paxton admitted he took a $1,000 Mont Blanc pen that another lawyer had accidentally left behind at the security check-in at the Collin County Courthouse. The sheriff's office reviewed security video, contacted Paxton, and he quickly returned it. Paxton's spokesman, Anthony Holm, described it at the time as a simple mixup, saying someone told Paxton he'd left a pen, and that "as the video shows, he walked over. 'Hmm, I left a pen.'" 

The pen incident surfaced during a period when Paxton was already facing scrutiny as attorney general. An NBC 5 report noted that special prosecutors were preparing to bring a securities violation case against him to a Collin County grand jury, stemming from his undisclosed referral fees from financial advisor Fritz Mowery. Paxton was reprimanded by the state securities board and paid a $1,000 fine over that matter.

The pen story is getting fresh attention now, as Paxton had been back at that very courthouse — this time for his own divorce trial, which was planned open to the public before cancellation. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in July 2025 "on biblical grounds" after 38 years of marriage, citing "recent discoveries" without elaborating further. The recent trial cancellation came with the decision that a public trial is not necessary.

Before the cancellation, the political action committee Lone Star Rising PAC posted a warning to anyone planning to attend, telling followers to "hold onto your valuables" since Paxton would be "back at the scene" of the pen incident. Former Texas state representative and attorney Wendy Davis also weighed in, writing on X that Paxton "literally STOLE a valuable pen" someone had accidentally left behind at the courthouse "a few years ago."

The rehashed scandal comes at an already turbulent moment for Paxton, who recently won the Republican Senate primary against incumbent John Cornyn after securing President Trump's endorsement, while still carrying the baggage of a pending felony securities fraud indictment and a 2023 impeachment fight in the Texas House.

The pen incident is a small footnote next to the corruption allegations that have followed Paxton into his Senate campaign. Paxton is the Republican nominee, but he carries a well-documented history of alleged misconduct, which nearly led to impeachment from the Texas Senate in 2023. Paxton has denied wrongdoing throughout, and has brushed off the scrutiny by comparing his controversies to those of President Trump. The Senate race shines a spotlight onto Paxton’s past, brighter than anything he faced in his statehouse campaigns.