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Judge approves move for Collin County district clerks trial
By Danny Gallagher, dgallagher@acnpapers.com
The organized criminal activity trial of six indicted Collin County district clerks employees will not take place in Collin County.
Robert Hinton, the attorney for chief deputy district clerk Patricia Crigger who is one of the six indicted on felony charges of engaging in organized crime, said he received an email from Visiting Judge John Nelms that he would grant an order in response to a motion asking for a change of venue for the trial scheduled next month.
Deric Walpole, the attorney for senior administrator Rebecca Littrell, filed the change of motion of venue asking to move the trial to another courthouse in order for his clients to obtain an impartial jury. Walpole could not be reached for comment on Nelms' order.
"Judge Nelms is a very fine, thorough judge and he's always going to do what he considers to be the appropriate thing according to the facts of law," Hinton said. "This is what he decided was the appropriate thing. We can certainly abide by whatever his judgment is."
The indictments stem from an investigation conducted by the Texas Rangers into the District Clerk's office that prompted a search warrant raid last month at the Collin County Courthouse on Bloomdale Road.
An unidentified source told Sgt. A.P. Davison of the Texas Rangers' Office that Crigger and Littrell held meetings last January to recruit employees of the District Clerk's office to "assist with the Crigger campaigns during regular working hours."
Employees earned paid time off for participating in Crigger's campaign, the source said.
"(Source) stated that it was common practice for Littrell to grant equivalent 'blue book time' to employees of the CCDCO who took (paid time off) to assist with the Crigger campaigns," the affidavit read.
When the employee claimed blue book time," "supervisors would falsely report to the county payroll system that the employee was at work," according to the affidavit.
Further investigations showed that Crigger used the county office's computer to transmit campaign materials including her "bio" and "an endorsement letter purportedly written by current district clerk Hannah Kunkle for use in the Crigger campaigns."
The source also told the Texas Rangers that this practice was "unique" to the CCDCO and it was "to be kept 'hush hush' and that those outside of the CCDCO were not supposed to know about it," the affidavit said.
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