She’s been behind bars since May 2024 - arrested after the KPRC ‘DRAINED’ Investigation exposed widespread corruption in waterline repair contracts.
What would former water department manager Patrece Lee say to KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis if she had the chance? That’s what we wanted to know. So, Amy Davis went to the downtown Houston jail to meet up with Lee.
We know the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is set to make a plea deal with Patrece Lee and her assistant, Danielle Hurts, on Monday.
Last May then-District Attorney Kim Ogg held a press conference to announce charges of bribery, abuse of official capacity, and engaging in organized criminal activity.
Ahead of the court meeting Amy Davis set up a visitation meeting with Patrece at the downtown Houston jail.
Producer Andrea Slaydon and Amy met ahead of time to talk about potential questions she would ask Lee. We knew she would get 20 minutes in total for the visit.
Amy signed up and was given the 8:00 p.m. time slot for visitation. She arrived 30 minutes early for check-in. They gave her a token and was told she had to put all of her belongings in a locker, and she was only allowed to bring in her ID. (So long, notes!)
After waiting about 10 minutes, Lee came into the room with glass dividers and phones for communication. Lee sat down, entered her inmate number in the phone and picked it up to talk with Amy.
Amy: “I said, ‘Did you not know you were coming out to meet me?’”
Lee said, “No.”
Amy: “I’m Amy Davis.”
Then she rolled her eyes, hung up the phone, got up and left.
Amy talked with the guard in the visitation room to ask if inmates know who is coming to visit them ahead of time. He said no, they only know they have a visitor and don’t look at the log for who signed up for the visit.
Amy tried to get Patrece Lee to come back and talk, holding up a five sign with her hand to try and say just give me five minutes. She refused.
Big updates for Patrece Lee case and others involved in ‘DRAINED’ Investigation
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is set to make a plea deal with Patrece Lee and her assistant, Danielle Hurts, on Monday.
SEE ALSO: ‘DRAINED:’ Contractor involved in Houston’s water department bribery scandal accepts plea deal
Lee, the water department manager, has been labeled the mastermind behind a multimillion-dollar scheme to divert tax dollars to herself, friends, and family.
Prosecutors described 33-year-old Hurts as Patrece Lee’s personal collection agent. They say she also used the alias ‘Rachel Taylor’ to collect from Patrece Lee’s fraudulent consulting business and two other city contractors, essentially triple dipping while doing ‘no actual real work’ to earn the payments.
We told you earlier this week, Contractor Joseph Nerie had his felony bribery charges dropped last week in exchange for pleading guilty to the misdemeanor of “giving a gift to a public servant.” At the end of Nerie’s deferred adjudication, he will have a clean record.
Investigator Amy Davis & the team will be in court Monday morning to follow these cases and bring you the latest updates.
