One of seven people charged in ‘DRAINED’ Investigation in custody, will appear in court Monday

HOUSTON – One of the seven people facing charges in a scandal revolving around emergency water line repairs in the City of Houston is in jail while the remaining six remain free.

Patrece Lee, the former City of Houston water department manager is the sole person in custody.

A Harris County Grand Jury filed charges against the group after KPRC 2′s ‘DRAINED’ Investigation uncovered millions of taxpayer dollars that were spent in the waterline repair scandal.

Here are the people facing charges:

• Patrece Lee, former City of Houston water department manager

• Andrew Thomas, Lee’s brother

• Danielle Hurts

The other four defendants were contractors and business owners charged with bribery for making payments to Lee in exchange for the steering the waterline repairs, inspections and city payments their way.

They are:

• Joseph Nerie, Owner of Nerie Construction

• Edelmiro Castillo, Owner of Omega Engineering, Inc.,

• Tieasha Coleman Houston, Owner of T. J. Cole Enterprises, LLC

• Frank Perkins, Owner of CST Connections, LLC

Patrece Lee has a court date scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday morning. She’s the first to appear in court following the charges being filed.