HOUSTON -- An 11 News Defenders investigation began making waves before it was even made public. Houston Metro officials announced a press conference at 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon after Investigative Reporter Mark Greenblatt asked about allegations of a possible cover-up.
At issue: Local attorney Lloyd Kelley had filed a Texas Public Information request with Metro asking for documents, e-mails, and travel vouchers. The reason: Kelley said he was interested in possible relationships between Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson, other agency employees and contractors hired to do work on public sector projects.
Wednesday afternoon, Kelly’s attorney, Michael West, said they had gotten information that some of those documents were being destroyed. So he filed a restraining order at state court to bring it to a halt. Judge Robert Schaeffer granted the temporary order and a full hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 5.
This afternoon, a Metro spokesperson admitted that some documents had been recently shredded, but did not say what they pertained to or what kind of papers they were.
Mayor Annise Parker called for a district attorney investigation Wednesday night; and Metro officials said they'd welcome one.
Metro is the government agency that provides public transportation in the Houston region and manages the rail lines.
