‘Restitution must be made’ says Judge to former Houston city worker charged after DRAINED probe into shady contracts

HOUSTON – Justice appears to be progressing as KPRC 2 continues its ongoing investigation ‘DRAINED.’

On Friday, Patrece Lee, the former Houston water department manager made an appearance in the Probable Cause (P.C.) court Friday, where a judge set her bond at $460,000. This was just a day after the former Houston Public Works maintenance manager was arrested on bribery and “official abuse of capacity” charges involving shady waterline repair contracts.

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During her appearance, the P.C. court judge accused Lee of abusing her position as a public servant.

“Public servants have a different standard to uphold, like it or not,” she said. “There is still over $700,000 worth of unaccounted funds. And even if the defendant is sitting on those funds somewhere, or co-actors are sitting on those funds somewhere, restitution must be made.”

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Lee’s bond, as a result, was set at $400,000 for a first-degree felony charge of abuse of official capacity and four counts of bribery, each one at $15,000.

She is one of seven charged in the scandal including her brother, Andrew Thomas. Here is a list of everyone else included in the charges and what they are facing:

Danielle Hurts: Abuse of official capacity and bribery

The other four defendants were contractors and business owners charged with bribery for making payments to Lee in exchange for steering the waterline repairs, inspections, and city payments their way.

Joseph Nerie, Owner of Nerie Construction: One charge of Bribery (2nd-degree felony), One Charge of Tampering with a Government Document (State Jail Felony)

Edelmiro Castillo, Owner of Omega Engineering, Inc.: Bribery (2nd-degree felony), Tampering with a Government Document (State Jail Felony)

Tieasha Coleman Houston, Owner of T. J. Cole Enterprises, LLC: Bribery (2nd-degree felony)

Frank Perkins, Owner of CST Connections, LLC: Bribery (2nd-degree felony)

On Friday, Lee requested a court-appointed attorney claiming she didn’t have money to hire legal representation. However, on Monday, when she was initially scheduled to appear in court, the attorney her family hired was not available.

Her first hearing will be scheduled on Tuesday.