Click to watch Mark Greenblatt's 11 News Defenders report

HOUSTON – They say “crime doesn’t pay”, but for crooks in Houston and across the Texas there’s little doubt it’s not costing them what it should.

BEHIND THE SCENES

How the State of Texas tried to block this investigation

KHOU took a simple step in researching this story that is part of the normal investigative process for many of the stories we research: We filed a public information request. What did we ask for? A simple listing of convicted criminals across Texas who had been ordered by Courts to pay restitution to their victims. We wanted to know how much these parolees (or former parolees) owed, and how much the State had collected before letting them off parole and telling their victims they had paid their debt to society in full.

The road block? The Texas Department of Criminal Justice simply didn't want us to see the information.

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According to one judge, Texas justice has a hidden injustice.

“It’s frustrating,”

What’s the problem?

Barbara Zaluaga knows.

“I used to run 3 miles a day,” she said. “I was at the top of my game.”

That changed one night after she was at a night club.

“I had taken my contacts out, and it was raining,” she said.

So she asked her boyfriend if he could drive her home.

“He said he was fine to drive,” Zaluaga said.

But soon enough, trouble developed along Westpark Road. 

“He guns it, and the car hydroplanes,” she said. “And then all of a sudden I saw headlights, heading towards us. … I said, ‘please God don’t let me die.’”

The head-on crash would leave the young woman trapped inside what’s left of her car and hospitalized for seven months.

“I had breaks throughout my pelvis in five places,” she said. “I had an 8-inch screw inside my hip, and my bladder exploded inside my body.

And another problem: She was now broke.

“I owed the hospital probably $250,000,” Zaluaga said.

As for the driver? Turns out David Michael Dominguez was drunk - blowing three times the legal limit. The charge? Intoxicated assault. The sentence? Eight years in prison. And now he owed nearly $19,000 to Zaluaga.

It’s called restitution: Money ordered by judges to be paid to crime victims who suffer financial harm. 

But the 11 News Defenders discovered that in Texas, the word with crooks is that not paying up is no problem with no consequences.

It turns out, too many times, that they’re right.

Take Dominguez. In 2002, he had a second drunk driving incident, this time going to prison

Then he was released on parole, and as of 2006, he’s off parole, meaning he’s paid his full debt to society in the eyes of Texas.

But how much restitution did he pay Zaluaga in that time? Just $850 out of the $19,000 he still owes.

“Here I was being victimized again, this time by the state,” Zaluaga said. “And they were allowing a criminal to get away with it.”

And the defenders found the scales may tip in favor of the criminals, far more often than you’d think.

Gregory Allen Stewart got ordered to pay his assault victim $7,000. He got off parole after paying $420.  

Donnie Ray Duncan stole from a cell phone company and had to give back $18,000. The state let him go after paying just $85.

And we found several cases where offenders paid absolutely nothing.

Former parole officer Andy Kahan has studied the numbers locally, and he said for victims: “It’s like being gutted all over again by the system.”

His solution: Leave crooks on parole until all of what they owe is paid. Otherwise, “Essentially, the victims are just getting screwed,” he said.

Why? In the last 20 years, out of $65 million owed to victims by convicts released from parole the state of Texas has barely collected $4.5 million.

11 News: “What’s the message that sends to criminals?”

Judge Brian Raines: “I hate to use a cliché, but the crime pays. … It says there are no sanctions when you don’t pay.

“I think a victim would rather them be back in prison, because they think that’s more punishment,” the Harris County judge said.

So what does the state have to say?

11 News: “More than 90 percent of the money has remained uncollected. Is that acceptable?”

TDCJ’s Stuart Jenkins said: “No, but that’s what it is.”

Jenkins is head of the state parole system.

11 News: “Why should someone be allowed to be on parole and pay absolutely nothing?”

SJ: “I’d have to look at the circumstances of the case, and we’d have to pull the case.”

So we then asked about cases like Mike Dominguez, off parole even though he owes nearly $19,000 dollars, this is what he had to say:

11 News: “But this guy’s discharges and he walks away scott free!”

SJ: “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t owe that. He still owes that.”

11 News: “You’ve washed your hands of him.”

SJ: “Not washed our hands of him. But the ability to collect it - we weren’t able to collect it.”

11 News: “I could keep going.”

SJ: “Sure.”

11 News: “All day long.”

SJ: “I’m sure you could. … There’s some things we can do better, need to do better, and collect it. And if it’s there to be collected, then we should collect it.”