Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
Editor’s Notice: This story was up to date with a press release from former District Legal professional Kim Ogg
Felony prices in opposition to a former staffer of Harris County Decide Lina Hidalgo will possible be dropped after the person agreed to a pre-trial intervention deal on Thursday. Alex Triantaphyllis is amongst three former staffers who have been accused of steering an $11 million COVID-19 vaccine outreach contract to a most popular vendor.
Triantaphyllis, Hidalgo’s former chief of workers, was charged with misuse of official info and tampering with authorities data in 2022, together with fellow staffers Aaron Dunn and Wallis Nader. The fees in opposition to each Dunn and Nader have been dropped final week within the “curiosity of justice,” based on courtroom data.
As a part of Triantaphyllis’ settlement, the misuse of official info cost was dropped, whereas the tampering cost shall be dismissed after he completes 10 hours of group service, amongst different necessities, based on reporting by the Houston Chronicle.
“The reality lastly prevailed,” Triantaphyllis mentioned in a press release. “I’m grateful for my household, my mates, my colleagues, and so many others for his or her overwhelming help over the previous a number of years, and to the individuals who finally took a extra goal have a look at this investigation. What’s most disappointing about this expertise is that others who need to do good may be discouraged from working in public service. We can’t let darkness eat the sunshine in a servant’s coronary heart.”
The controversy started after an organization known as Elevate Methods received the contract for a proposed COVID-19 vaccine outreach undertaking in June 2021. After the contract was finally withdrawn, an investigation headed by the Harris County District Legal professional’s Workplace discovered what seemed to be communication between the three former staffers and the founding father of Elevate previous to the corporate profitable the contract.
In March 2022, Texas Rangers raided the Harris County Administration Constructing. The three former staffers have been indicted shortly after in April 2022.
Greater than a yr later, in November 2023, Texas Rangers started investigating claims of proof tampering inside Hidalgo’s workplace. Months later, former Harris County District Legal professional Kim Ogg handed the instances over to the Texas Legal professional Normal’s Workplace.
All through the investigation, Hidalgo has denied any wrongdoing and defended her former staffers, pointing to what she says is an omission of info within the search warrants. She’s additionally claimed the investigation into her workplace was a part of a “political vendetta” led by former the DA, a fellow Democrat who misplaced final yr’s main election in opposition to former prosecutor Sean Teare. Teare received the final election in November and recused himself and the DA’s workplace from the instances after being sworn on this yr.
Throughout a press convention on Thursday, Hidalgo continued to blast Ogg, claiming the previous DA was “a grimy cop.” The county decide claimed that the investigation into her former staffers was “simply the top of a protracted line of Kim Ogg instances that wasted thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of county {dollars}, hundreds and hundreds of hours, in opposition to political opponents and ended with nothing.”
Hidalgo particularly referenced a years-long investigation led by the DA’s wanting into claims of election fraud in Harris County, which discovered no proof of fraud. Different probes led by the previous DA targeted on Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who was accused of improperly storing about 1,400 items of African artwork sculptures, and Dr. Hasan Gokal, who was accused of swiping a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine and administering doses off website.
In line with reporting by the Houston Chronicle, Ogg’s investigations price Harris County not less than $1.5 million in authorized charges.
“There have been no convictions right here, there was no crime right here,” Hidalgo mentioned. “However someone did lose and it was the individuals of Harris County. They’ve been compelled to pay for this outrageous debacle.”
After stepping down from the DA’s workplace, Ogg started working as a senior coverage advisor in Commissioner Tom Ramsey’s workplace. In a textual content, Ogg pushed again in opposition to Hidalgo’s claims, accusing the county decide of utilizing “kindergarten ways and schoolyard name-calling.”
“Harris County won’t ever have the chance to listen to the proof and resolve for themselves whether or not Decide Hidalgo’s workers rigged an $11 million Covid contract and what position she performed in it,” Ogg wrote.
