HOUSTON, Texas – A court hearing was held on Tuesday in connection with the massive collection of private African Art that was secretly stored inside an old Harris County maintenance shed.
It’s an investigation that 2 Investigates Mario Diaz first presented to Houstonians in February 2020. His investigation launched a criminal probe directly involving one of Harris County’s most powerful politicians.
We reported on the costly $326,000 transformation of a county maintenance shed in order to store over 1,000 pieces of private art for free, even though there was no formal paperwork or approval by the county to do so.
The art inside the shed was all under the control of County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. Surveillance video KPRC 2 obtained shortly after our initial reports captured Ellis showing off the private collection to family and others.
Ellis was seen not having any problems talking during intimate tours of the shed out of the public’s eye, but when we showed up asking questions, he had no answers.
At the time, we were told by the county that the private collection had only one owner, Sam Njunuri. State records showed he was in business with Commissioner Ellis’s sister-in-law at the time. Once we exposed all of it, a criminal investigation was launched, with a grand jury declining to indict Ellis for the hundreds of thousands spent by his office in connection with the art.
Remember, taxpayers’ dollars were used for the restoration of the shed, and no monies were collected for storage.
In a hearing back in November, Houston-based attorney Joe Walker, who is representing Darlene Jarrett, who is owed $1 million by Njunuri in a civil matter, believes the sale of the art could cover the cost.
Before the art sales, Njunuri filed restraining orders and even for bankruptcy to avoid having the art auctioned off.
Njunuri does not have ownership papers for all the art and has admitted in court testimony during Walker’s civil trial that not only is there another owner of the art, but some of it “might be stolen”.
On Tuesday in court, a new hearing was scheduled for July, after Garabe Konte claimed to the court that roughly 228 pieces of the artwork belong to him.
It was in 2024 that Walker said Konte made his first claim of 180 pieces. Walker questions the new claim of 48 more pieces.
“I don’t see anything that supports the claim of 228.”
The judge in the case wants the pieces in question identified.
Also, Konte is fighting to get his art back after he says it rightfully belongs to him. However, Walker says the actions in court further bolster the claims Njunuri made regarding some of the artwork possibly being stolen.
“He gave Sam 180 pieces for three checks that were never honored. If you give a check and you don’t honor it, that’s called theft,” said Walker.
James Pope, the attorney for Konte, said he is looking out for his client’s best interests.
When asked if he might file a criminal complaint with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Pope quickly said, “I’ve been retained to try and get his property for him.”
As for the current state of the art, it is still being stored in an office building on the city’s southwest side. Last year, building management confirmed Njunuri has not paid his rent for years. It’s not clear if Njunuri has made those payments as of this date.
