HOUSTON, Texas – The former Houston city manager at the center of a contract corruption scandal exposed by KPRC 2′s Amy Davis faced a judge Thursday regarding her new felony charge.
Patrece Lee, who has been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, abuse of official capacity and four counts of bribery, has been in jail for two months. Her bond is set at $460,000. Lee was hoping to get that lowered during her court appearance.
“It’s engaging in organized crime, (that) was the new indictment, and I don’t have all the evidence on that because they just indicted her two days ago,” said Lee’s attorney Jay Dedrick.
While standing before the judge, Lee found out that her case had been put on a three-month reset due to there being a visiting judge.
Dedrick told KPRC 2 News that he still plans to ask for a bond reduction, but he’s waiting until August.
“It’s a complicated case, of course, or cases plural... But let’s get the evidence in and we will be back,” Dedrick said.
After the short encounter with the judge, Lee, who was wearing an orange Harris County Jail jumpsuit, blew a kiss to her family while she was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Lee wasn’t the only suspect charged in the shady water line contracts to appear before a judge Thursday. Business owners Edelmiro Castillo and Tieasha Houston were also in attendance. They are included among the seven people who are currently charged with bribery, abuse of official capacity and tampering with the government.
KPRC 2 reporter Amy Davis and Producer Andrea Slaydon have investigated the city’s water department for two years. In November, Davis exposed the questionable waterline repair contracts within the City of Houston Public Works Department. Her reports sparked a criminal investigation that led to the indictments in May.
Here’s a timeline of the KPRC 2 ‘DRAINED’ Investigation into questionable contracts:
November 16, 2023: Millions of dollars in questionable Houston water department contracts uncovered by KPRC 2 Investigates
November 30, 2023: Houston Public Works employees out of work after KPRC 2 Investigation exposes millions in fraudulent contracts
December 5, 2023: ‘We really sat in our trucks, watched YouTube’: City contractor comes forward on questionable water repair contracts
December 18, 2023: Suspended water employee authorized $116K payment to her brother after city of Houston started investigation
December 20, 2023: DRAINED: Who is investigating questionable city contracts? What is the Office of the Inspector General?
*Kim Ogg spoke with Amy Davis about the coming charges. She credits KPRC 2 with bringing this to light. Check out part of that interview here.