Judge recuses self in case against Hidalgo's staffers in order to 'avoid any appearance of impropriety'

District judge recuses self in case against Hidalgo's staffers | khou.com

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The judge presiding over the case of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's staff members who were indicted on felony charges has voluntarily recused herself.

The Presiding Judge of the 351st District Court in Harris County, Natalia Cornelio, issued the order on Tuesday in regards to the cases against the three staff members.

The order says Cornelio is: "able to base any decisions in this matter on the facts as they develop, and I remain able to render a fair and impartial judgment.

"Nonetheless, so that the State of Texas, the Defendant, and the public will maintain trust in the judiciary, and to avoid any appearance of impropriety, I sua sponte recuse myself."

RELATED: 'I will not cave to bullying or political dirty tricks': County Judge Lina Hidalgo defends three indicted staffers

A new judge will be assigned to the case.

Hidalgo staffers Alex Triantaphyllis, Wallis Nader and Aaron Dunn were indicted last week following an investigation into an $11 million COVID vaccine outreach contract.

All three staffers were charged with misuse of official information and tampering with a government record.

Triantaphyllis, 38, is currently Hidalgo's chief of staff. Nader, 36, currently serves as policy director, and Dunn, 35, is a former staffer.

Vaccine contract investigation

As 11 News Investigates reported in March, the investigation centers around an $11 million COVID vaccine outreach contract that was awarded to Elevate Strategies in June 2021.

At issue is whether Hidalgo staffers gave Elevate Strategies LLC and its owner Felicity Pereyra insider information about the project weeks before a request for proposals was open to the public. 

Staffers were said to also have worked to ensure another company didn’t win the contract, according to a search warrant.

Four companies ultimately applied for the project after the request for proposal became public in February.

The contract was awarded to Elevate Strategies in June 2021 but was later terminated in September 2021 due to the company's inexperience with public health outreach and alleged ties to local Democratic party officials.

The investigation into the staffers' involvement in the contract heated up on March 11 when the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney's Office served search warrants to the Harris County Administration Building.

Computers and phones of at least two of her staff members were seized at the time, according to sources.

Most recently, the Texas Rangers have looked into the Google accounts of six senior staff members of the Hidalgo's office, as well as the judge herself. Investigators seized a total of 14 Google files relating to the vaccine outreach contract.

No charges have been filed against Hidalgo or the other three senior staff members.

“Prosecutors presented the evidence to a Harris County grand jury, which determined there was sufficient evidence for criminal charges. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and apply the law equally to all; our work continues," Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement Tuesday.

KHOU legal analyst Carmen Roe said it appears this investigation is far from over.

"If I'm in her [Judge Hidalgo]'s office, I'm shaking in my boots," said Roe. "This is not going to end well for anyone in that office who had anything to do with those contracts."