HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Barbie Robinson, former head of the Harris County Department of Health, was accused by former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg of using her position to give a company an unfair heads up about an upcoming contract and bidding process. Now, the case is dismissed, and taxpayers owe hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The reimbursement of $205,000 in legal fees was approved by the Harris County Commissioners Court on Thursday. Last year, Robinson was accused by Ogg and indicted by a grand jury for sharing private information with a company on a multi-billion-dollar contract.
In a one-on-one interview with Ogg, she stood by her accusations, saying the case was dismissed this spring by current Harris County DA Sean Teare for political reasons.
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"Well, I'm the former chief law enforcement official in Harris County, and those types of allegations unfortunately reflect our reality today," Ogg said.
Teare stated at the time of the case's dismissal that his team could not prove any of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, whose staffers were also charged by Ogg, said it's Ogg who is making politically motivated decisions. Two of Hidalgo's staffers had their cases dropped. A third received pre-trial intervention and agreed to community service. Hidalgo said she's glad Robinson has a way to seek justice through reimbursement, even if it's on the taxpayers' dime.
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"I hate that taxpayers are having to cover this, and remember, they also had to pay for all that went on the DA side and her attorneys and her support staff and all the time that was spent talking to reporters and writing briefs that were made on falsehoods and getting grand juries to come listen to falsehoods. All of that is taxpayer money as well," Hidalgo said.
Only Commissioner Tom Ramsey voted against the reimbursement. ABC13 reached out to his office, but he was not available. We also reached out to Robinson for comment, but did not hear back.
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