Harris Co. Attorney to testify before grand jury investigating possible wrongdoing inside Victor Trevino's office

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There's a surprise in that criminal probe of Victor Trevino's constables office.

Through our sources, 13 Undercover has learned the grand jury has now subpoenaed the testimony of another high-ranking public official. It's Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan. He's been told to appear Friday morning under oath. What we don't know is what the grand jury wants to ask the guy elected to be the county's ethics watchdog.

Just last week, 13 Undercover had tough questions for the County Attorney Vince Ryan.

"Is the end game protecting Victor Trevino?" we asked Ryan.

"Of course not," he said.

Now sources tell us the grand jury probing the constable has questions for Mr. Ryan too.

"The bottom line is you ran for public office as the ethics watchdog for this county," we told Ryan.

"I think the ethics are being much more cautiously observed by county officials," he said.

But we've been fighting for months for the voters' right to know.

Documents we have show Ryan's office had about reports of mismanagement and possible criminal wrongdoing in Precinct 6 months before the May primary. There was even a final internal investigative report done by this county lawyer for Vince Ryan. But the watchdog won't make it public. Trust me, we've tried to get it.

"You issue your Doug Ray document in its entirety and let the public see everything Vince Ryan knew before the election, that he didn't think the voters had a right to see," we told Ryan.

"I think that would be inappropriate," Ryan said.

"Really?" we said.

"Yes it would."

"You could do it tomorrow," we said.

Emails from Ryan's office acknowledge at least some of the revelations could be "the source of high embarrassment" and "black eyes for the justice system."

Ryan says he has a right to keep what he learned a secret because he's the county's lawyer, even from the county judge. Trevino was re-elected in May. Now it's Ryan who faces voters in November.

"He covered up wrongdoing that he was aware of and chose to look the other way. Instead of being the watchdog that he should be, he's a lapdog," said Robert Talton, Ryan's opponent in the November election.

We don't know from our sources if Ryan has been told to bring the report he won't show you to show them. The county attorney says his office has done a lot to clean up the constables' operations; he has given some records to the DA but not the final report of his investigation.

Just last week it was Constable Trevino on the hot seat.

"Do you expect for there to be an indictment?" we asked attorney Chip Lewis.

"I don't think the grand jury will see anything on the lines of Constable Trevino personally enriching himself, but as they are still working through the process, we are not going to to comment on the issues before them," Lewis said.

We also know from the courthouse that a grand jury subpoena for a sitting county attorney is very rare. We will be watching the developments for you Friday morning.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more 13 Undercover »

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Constable scandal goes before grand jury

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- 13 Undercover has learned that a grand jury has begun its investigation into the Harris County Precinct 6 Constable's Office.

We've learned the district attorney's office is presenting its case on the constable's office to the grand jury. It's the latest chapter in a constable scandal that's been unfolding for a year.

"I can't talk about it," said Captain Tyrone Berry.

We asked, "Any comment on the grand jury subpoena?"

"No, sir," he said.

He's the third in command at Precinct 6 and his lawyer says Captain Berry is a victim.

"He feels like a victim," we said.

Captain Berry's attorney Richard Cobb replied, "He not only feels it, in my opinion, he is a victim,"

"Because of the forgeries?" we asked.

"Absolutely," Cobb responded.

Forgeries -- Berry claims some of his signatures were forged on checks from the charity Constable Victor Trevino founded.

We asked, "No question to you that there is criminal wrongdoing by someone? The question is who?"

"Correct," Cobb replied. "In my opinion that's correct."

Some of those charity checks were cashed at convenience stores, with no paper trail of what happened to all the cash after that.

"You know where all the cash money went?" we asked.

David Acosta said, "No comment."

We asked, "How long were you in the grand jury?"

Acosta was the accountant for CARE and Captain Berry was the treasurer. His lawyer now says he had no choice.

We asked, "He didn't want to be the treasurer?"

"He did not," Cobb replied.

Precinct 6 employees complained to 13 Undercover that Captain Berry was one of the commanders who hit deputies up for campaign money for the constable. His lawyer says the long-standing practice of some constables using deputies to raise money is a call for civil service protection.

"They're employees at will," Cobb explained. "So if you want to stay in good graces of your constable, you do those things."

The constable's lawyer says Trevino never told anyone to sign checks without Berry's consent and never pressured Berry or anyone else to serve on the charity board of directors. The grand jury continues next week.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more 13 Undercover »

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Deputies' actions before SWAT scene questioned

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A woman was attacked in her own home by her husband, a man who was supposed to stay away from her. She'd filed paperwork to get protection, but it may have been ignored.

The woman is recovering after the attack. And now, there are questions as to why her husband was let go after he was confronted by Precinct 4 deputy constables. The department is now investigating what happened.

Precinct 4's Assistant Chief Mark Herman says they are launching an investigation after we brought this to his attention.

On May 11 at 6:30pm, Precinct 4 deputies and HPD SWAT officers created an armed camp on Beacham Street in Lakewood Forest.

"Within minutes, we had three snipers on our balcony," neighbor Tom Hale said.

The standoff would last six hours. A husband stabbed his wife's chest and barricaded himself in a room, periodically firing a gun at deputies. Eventually, he shot himself in the chest and died.

Tom and Sherry Hale watched it unfold from across the street.

"Rapid fire and the room, where the husband was barricaded in, lit up when the shots went off. We could see that," Hale said.

Court records show the wife, Jeanne Galladora, filed a protective order against husband, James, for choking her. That was May 6, five days before the standoff. A judge ordered him not to contact her. And not to go within 200 feet of their home. But he did -- twice.

"On May 11, right after midnight, I think a family member brought him to that location to get his truck," Herman said.

The husband came back to his house around 1am on May 11, arguably, violating the protective order. But he wasn't arrested.

"When they found him sitting on the curb down the street from the house, he still had needles in him and IVs where he had voluntarily just walked out of a local hospital. EMS hadn't even checked him out," Herman said.

Deputies let him go. It's still unclear why. But then he came back again on the same night, stabbed his wife and killed himself.

"If this guy would've been arrested, he wouldn't have been able to come back?" we asked Herman.

"You know what? I hate to speculate on that," he replied.

Herman says he's looking into what happened the early morning hours of May 11 and what actions his officers took.

"When you initially brought up calls being there, that was the first I heard about it," Herman said.

He says that could take days or weeks.

"Should've arrested him, should've let the judge decide if he's violating the protective order," KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy said.

Androphy points to a state law that says officers shall arrest for a violation of a protective order. If that's the case, the standoff may never have happened.

"If there is probable cause to believe he violated that order, you arrest him and let the judge decide whether he did or not," Androphy said.

Galladora's wife survived the stabbing and is out of the hospital, recovering.

We will follow up with Herman, who said the department will get to the bottom of it.

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Man accused in unusual burglaries goes before judge

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man investigators are calling a serial burglar will face a judge today.

Abel Martinez, 32, who was arrested by police earlier this week, but what's really interesting about this case is what he stole.

Harris County sheriff's deputies say he is behind about a half dozen home burglaries where he stole everything from dogs to underwear.

Martinez was arrested a few days ago and charged in three of those burglaries. Sheriff's investigators say from April to November, Martinez broke into apartments and even a home two blocks from the house where he was living.

Authorities say he stole a list of items, including underwear. Deputies say the parolee even made off with a little Maltese and a second dog, but he didn't stop there.

"He took bedding in some cases," said Cristina Garza with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "He took towels, kitchen knives he took kitchen blocks, clothing, jackets, pants, shoes"

Both dogs were returned to their owners. A lot of the other stolen items are still missing. Martinez is expected in court this morning to answer to three burglary charges.

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DA Lykos testifies before grand jury in BAT vans case

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- For months, a Harris County Grand Jury has been looking for crimes inside the District Attorney's Office. On Tuesday, that grand jury finally put Pat Lykos, the DA herself, under oath.

We were hoping to talk to the DA, but she stayed out of the public eye. Using a private entrance available only to district attorneys, the publicly elected DA avoided having her picture taken. But she couldn't hide from the questions.

It seems Harris Co. DA Pat Lykos would like nothing better than for us to forget about the investigation into possible criminal activity inside her office.

"Have you done anything wrong?" we asked Lykos back in October when the grand jury started.

"Of course not," she replied at the time.

But since then, we know BAT van technicians, DWI prosecutors and county commissioners have all testified. And we know one of Lykos' supervising prosecutors refused to answer grand jury questions out of concern she would incriminate herself.

"Why did you take the Fifth?" we had asked Asst. District Attorney Rachel Palmer.

"You know that's not an appropriate question," she replied.

All of it cleared the way for the woman at the top, the elected DA, to take her turn in the uncomfortable seat. But last week, after she'd been subpoenaed to testify and was just days away from being put under oath, she told Eyewitness News Reporter Miya Shay, "I don't know what you're talking about."

But she did, and so did we. The grand jury might be secret, but the fact she was called to answer questions in front of grand jurors wasn't to us.

On Tuesday, we were there waiting for the DA to walk in, but she didn't. Instead, she used a back door available only to district attorneys.

"A witness testified, questions were asked, questions were answered," special prosecutor Stephen St. Martin said.

In other words, Lykos talked. She didn't take the Fifth inside, but we don't know exactly what the questions were.

On Tuesday afternoon, she emailed us saying, "The Harris County District Attorney's Office continues to respect the secrecy of the grand jury process."

We don't know exactly what the questions were. We do know there are at least two areas of concern -- whether the DA or her staff sat on the knowledge that BAT van DWI evidence may have been sketchy, and if the office retaliated against the technician who blew the whistle in the case.

The DA's assistants deny both claims. Our numerous requests for comment from the DA herself have gone unanswered.

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DA Lykos subpoenaed to testify before grand jury

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Her office has been under investigation for months, and now the Harris County District Attorney herself is called to testify before a grand jury.

A grand jury investigating possible wrongdoing within the DA's Office has officially subpoenaed DA Pat Lykos. The probe centers around problems with the Houston Police Department's DWI testing vans.

The DA's Office will neither confirm nor deny that there's been a subpoena issued. They say that due to the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings, they can't talk about it. But we do know that the DA has been subpoenaed and that some time in the next few weeks, she will be testifying.

This is an ongoing grand jury investigation that's already seen some of the DA's top assistants take the stand. At question are the DA's use of so-called BAT vans used in drunk driving cases, and whether the DA's Office knew of flaws with those testing vans without informing defense attorneys of those potential problems.

Back in March, 13 Undercover's Wayne Dolcefino first reported about maintenance problems with those mobile testing units. DA Pat Lykos told Eyewitness News in October that she was unaware of any problems with the BAT vans, that she had issue with HPD and asked that the Department of Public Safety take over administration of those vans.

"I want the Texas Department of Public Safety to supervise the technicians so that we can be assured that everything is done according to protocol," Lykos said in October 2011.

Now she'll be talking to a grand jury.

"Very unusual. I don't know of another case where a DA has been called by a grand jury to testify in a criminal matter," said KTRK Legal Analyst Joel Androphy.

He says it's not only unusual, but it's also potentially dangerous for the DA to have to answer questions about what she did or didn't know then, and does or doesn't know now.

"Here, a prosecutor is being called to testify to a grand jury that is investigating her office. So, you know, she, number one, could tell everything that she knows, but, two, she runs the risk of incriminating herself," Androphy said.

Lykos could choose to plead the Fifth, but Androphy says that would be akin to political suicide.

You can read more about what led to this grand jury investigation by clicking on the Related Links in the box on the upper left-hand side of this story.

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Man on trial disappears before closing arguments

David Lacroix is 5-foot-9, weighing 220 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators say Lacroix has an extensive criminal history and is known to carry weapons.

  PORTER, TX (KTRK) -- Investigators hope you can help them find a Porter man who they say disappeared during his trial on an evading arrest charge.

David Lacroix, 46, was in court on Monday when the trial began, but according to the Montgomery County Precinct 4 Constable's Office, he didn't return for closing arguments on Tuesday, instead sending his girlfriend in with a note for his attorney.

Lacroix was found guilty and, when found, faces two to 20 years in prison for the original charge, and now is facing a charge for jumping bail.

The original evading arrest charge stems from a March 22 incident in Porter. Investigators were interviewing a person who claimed to be the victim of road rage by Lacroix when they say Lacroix himself drove by in a pickup truck.

The investigating deputy jumped in his patrol car to try to catch up with Lacroix to get his side of the story, but says Lacroix took off and led the deputy on a chase. Lacroix pulled into a driveway, jumped out and took off on foot. He was later found hiding in a nearby shed.

Lacroix is 5-foot-9 and weighs 220 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators say Lacroix has an extensive criminal history and is known to carry weapons. Anyone with information regarding Lacroix's whereabouts should contact law enforcement immediately.

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Autopsy shows man shot before dismembered

  HOUSTON -- A man whose headless body was found outside a vacant Houston house was fatally shot in the head before his body was dismembered, a medical examiner's office said Tuesday.

Police discovered the head and an arm of Marlon Thomas, 35, Sunday evening stuffed into a trash bag under a house. A chain saw was next to the bag and the rest of his remains were buried in a debris pile in the yard next door. Police arrested Thomas' best friend, Noe Gerardo Morin, 32, and charged him Monday with murder. Court records showed he was scheduled for a court appearance Wednesday but did not list an attorney. Morin was jailed without bond. Roxanne Mena, spokeswoman for the Harris County medical examiner, said an autopsy determined Thomas' death was a homicide and the gunshot wound killed him. In a probable cause affidavit filed with the Harris County district attorney's office, the physician who performed the autopsy said the wound was in the back of Thomas' head and it appeared he was shot before he was beheaded. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots Saturday but said the sound wasn't uncommon in Houston's Fifth Ward. They did not recall the sound of a chain saw and documents in the case do not indicate whether the chain saw was used to dismember Thomas. Neighbors also described Thomas and Morin as best friends for years and speculated a dispute over money or theft of property might have led to the slaying, a suggestion supported in the affidavit filed by investigators. According to the document, a neighbor told police Morin came to him Sunday morning and asked him to fix his chain saw. When the neighbor returned the repaired tool, Morin asked the neighbor if he could trust him, then took him to the property next door and told him to look through a hole in the fence. The neighbor "looked through the hole and saw the body of a headless black male and (Morin) said that the body was (Thomas') and that is what (Morin) does when people steal from him," the affidavit said. An officer identified in the affidavit as B. Williams said he was sent to the scene Sunday evening to respond to a "found body call" and saw the body "was covered in debris and was missing its head and one arm." After obtaining a search warrant, he and other officers spotted a trash bag sticking out from under the house. As another officer was pulling the bag from underneath the house, "a finger poked through the bag from the inside," Williams said. The officer opened the bag, and police saw the head and arm and some bloody clothing, he said. Another officer found the chain saw, also under the house. Court records show Morin with an extensive criminal record since at least 1998 with charges that included auto theft, aggravated assault, marijuana possession and felony weapon possession. (Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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81 students get college degree before high school diploma

San Jacinto College South honored 81 Clear Creek ISD students who received an associate's degree before getting their high school diploma.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Eighty-one Clear Creek ISD students were honored Tuesday for receiving a college degree before their high school diploma.

At a reception hosted by San Jacinto College South President Dr. Maureen Murphy, the Clear Horizon Early College high School graduates were recognized for receiving their associate degrees three weeks before their high school graduation on June 4. The early college high school is a partnership between the Clear Creek Independent School District and San Jacinto College South. The school has been awarded an exemplary rating for the last three years by the Texas Education Agency. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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