Former Harris County District Attorney Calls For Federal Investigation Into Public Corruption Cases
Kim Ogg accused the new district attorney of a quid pro quo arrangement with county officials.
By Holly Hansen
The Texan
May 5, 2025
Former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg called for federal agents to investigate and preserve evidence on Friday after her successor announced that felony charges in another public corruption case would be dropped.
“What I'm concerned about is destruction of the evidence,” Ogg said in an interview with FOX 26 reporter Greg Groogan obtained by The Texan. “Harris County’s own policies allow for destruction of email communications.”
“That’s why I’m calling on the federal government, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate.”
Last Friday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO) announced that four felony charges pending against the county’s former Public Health Director Barbie Robinson would be dropped. Robinson was fired by the county last September, and in November 2024, Ogg announced that Robinson would be charged with misuse of official information in relation to county contracts. In December, HCDAO charged Robinson with three additional felonies and turned the cases over to the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
After taking office in January, newly elected District Attorney Sean Teare filed to return Robinson’s cases to Harris County.
Ogg claimed that Teare, who was endorsed by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo (D) and County Commissioner Rodney Ellis (D-Pct. 1), participated in a “quid pro quo” in dismissing Robinson’s and other public corruption cases.
“These political dismissals are clearly part of the quid pro quo deal between Commissioner Ellis and others, along with Sean Teare to get rid of these cases,” said Ogg. She also pointed out that Harris County Administrator Diana Ramirez, who had fired Robinson last year, suddenly resigned last month.
According to search warrant affidavits filed by the Texas Rangers, Robinson exchanged emails with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) officials regarding lucrative contracts to craft a social services program for Harris County soon after her hire date in March 2021.
The communications, often conducted via Robinson’s personal email address, indicate that IBM officials were assisting her with the creation of scope documents long before Requests for proposal were made public in November 2021. Robinson also arranged for the county to pay $45,000 to IBM for a workshop in July 2021.
The Texas Rangers also produced emails indicating that Robinson communicated with DEMA, a company later selected to run Harris County’s Holistic Assistance Response Teams.
Emails between DEMA officials and Robinson’s husband Paul Fields indicate the company had offered him a paid consulting position prior to the county awarding DEMA a $6 million contract.
“I talked to Barbie, and she said you wanted to meet to further hammer out the details of my scope of work in supporting your efforts to establish DEMA’s security services at your service locations,” Fields wrote in one email.
Prior to working for Harris County, Robinson served as the director of health services for Sonoma County, California.
According to the Texas Rangers, during her tenure at Harris County Public Health, Robinson was a “scoring member” of a five-person evaluation team for only two projects: the contracts awarded to IBM and to DEMA.
The investigation also found that Robinson failed to note her relationships with the two companies and potential conflicts of interest on required disclosure documents.
Teare’s office however said that there was no evidence Robinson obtained a tangible or monetary benefit or that she had attempted to "deceive, coerce, defraud, or harm the county” in the contract award process, and that her connections to both IBM and DEMA were well known when she was hired.
In response to Ogg’s accusation, HCDAO spokesperson Courtney Fischer issued the following statement:
“This decision was made based solely on the evidence and the law. The reason no one can point to evidence of political gamesmanship is because this administration has removed politics from prosecution.”
The Texan reached out to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas for comment, but received no reply before the time of publication.
Ellis released a statement on social media after Teare announced Robinson’s charges would be dropped, and said that there was a “special place in hell” for Ogg.
Earlier this year, the OAG dropped felony charges pending against two of Hidalgo’s former staff while a third staffer had entered a plea deal. The charges related to an $11 million COVID-19 vaccine outreach contract that would have also been administered through the county’s health department.
Hidalgo issued a statement Friday on the Robinson case.
“The unfair prosecution and firing of Director Robinson is part of a pattern we’ve seen too often: public servants who challenge the status quo — especially people of color — being targeted with political prosecutions and with public haranguing by elected leaders who are all too quick to jump to conclusions when it comes to accusations against a select few.”
Former Harris County Executive Director of Universal Services Rick Noriega sued the county for $1 million and demanded a public apology from Hidalgo over his termination in 2023. Sources familiar with the matter say the county is negotiating a settlement agreement in the case.
As for Robinson’s case, Ogg said that the people of Harris County have the right to see the evidence.
“My message to Harris County taxpayers is, ‘watch your wallet.’ Your money is being wasted. You’re being defrauded. And it’s being covered up by the D.A.”
1 comment:
I hope they investigate the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
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