News & Updates
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Scammer sentenced to 28 years for stealing $260,000 from autistic man
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 24, 2023 5:00 PM
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Man who fled country after killing man in case of mistaken identity sentenced to 35 years in prison
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 21, 2023 4:56 PM
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Houston Man Sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing schoolmate over money during gun transfer
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 19, 2023 3:18 PM
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Man who fatally shot teen after Astros game sentenced to 30 years
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 17, 2023 7:04 PM
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Statement of Harris County DA Kim Ogg on the execution of Robert Fratta
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 10, 2023 6:58 PM
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Navigating the Harris County Criminal Justice System
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 07, 2023 8:42 PM
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Harris County DA’s Office announces change in Communications Division leadership
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · January 03, 2023 6:53 PM
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Pearland woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in beating, sexual assault at bar
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · December 29, 2022 7:49 PM
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Harris County District Attorney’s Office releases Five Year Report
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · December 21, 2022 7:46 PM
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Ringleader in NFL medical reimbursement scam pleads guilty
Posted by Harris County District Attorney Office · December 17, 2022 6:37 PM
A Houston man was sentenced to 28 years in prison and a $10,000 fine this week for scamming $260,000 out of a 68-year-man with autism, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Tuesday.
“This is a career con artist who stole money from a senior citizen with a disability, and the law allows jurors to look at the totality of his scams and sentence him for everything he did,” Ogg said. “We are grateful to the jury for sending him to prison and, according to the law, he will have to serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.”
Paul Yonko, 39, was convicted last week of engaging in organized criminal activity following a three-day trial. After hearing testimony about Yonko’s criminal past in the punishment phase, jurors handed down a sentence of 28 years.
The owner of a Houston transmission-repair shop who fled the country in 2018 after shooting a man he mistook for a thief was sentenced to 35 years in prison this week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Saturday.
“A man who intentionally kills an innocent stranger and then does everything he can to cover up his crime and run from accountability deserves to spend decades in prison for the pain he caused,” Ogg said.
Oscar Aristides Garcia, 35, was sentenced late Wednesday by visiting Judge Marc Brown.
A Houston man who was 17 when he killed a schoolmate over $250 was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder this week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.
“It is obvious we have an epidemic of gun violence when teenagers are shooting each other over money while exchanging guns,” Ogg said. “Getting justice for the family of the victim in a case like this, which has been pending for years, is exactly the reason we recently created the Homicide Division of our office and staffed it with some of our best prosecutors.”
Jesse Quinones, 22, pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday in exchange for 35 years in prison for killing 17-year-old Patrick Aldape around 11:35 p.m. on April 13, 2017. Quinones will serve at least half the sentence before he is eligible for parole. He is not allowed to appeal the conviction or the sentence.
A Houston man who fatally shot a teenager during a road-rage incident after an Astros game in 2021 has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Tuesday.
“The victim in this case was set to be a National Merit Scholarship finalist and had a bright future ahead of him,” Ogg said. “Gun crime in Harris County is out of control, and no one should have to die because of an argument in traffic.”
Robert Fratta was executed Tuesday at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville for the capital murder of his wife, Farah Fratta.
“Two juries, one in 1996 and another in a re-trial in 2009, found Robert Fratta guilty of hiring two men to kill his wife, and both juries sentenced him to death,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “Robert Fratta showed that he was the worst of the worst through the cowardly act of hiring others to do his dirty work and then hiding behind his position of authority as a law-enforcement officer to try to escape responsibility.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office bids farewell this week to one of its key employees. Director of Communications Dane Schiller, who devoted six years to keeping the public informed about our work, is leaving the office to pursue life abroad.
Joe Stinebaker will be our new Director of Communications. Stinebaker will oversee the Communications Division in assisting the news media to inform the public about the criminal justice system.
A Pearland woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in brutally beating and sexually assaulting a man at a northwest Harris County bar, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.
“This was a vicious attack, and this woman not only participated but she also tried to hide the evidence of what happened,” Ogg said. “Our hearts go out to the victim, who was completely innocent and should have been safe just taking shelter from the cold.”
Ariel Cordoba, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault before her co-defendant, 38-year-old Felix Vale, who was convicted last month by a jury and sentenced to 82 years in prison. The couple worked together to beat a fellow patron at a bar unconscious and then continued to beat and assault him during the historic winter storm in February 2021. Cordoba was sentenced Wednesday following a punishment hearing.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has released its Five Year Report highlighting award-winning diversion programs, juvenile justice reforms and the number of defendants who have been diverted from the criminal justice system both pre-arrest and pre-trial, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.
“In my first term of service, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office tackled the toughest hurdles it has ever seen,” Ogg said. “We faced the devastating losses wrought by Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic that created volatile situations in our communities and resulted in the worst backlog of criminal cases in our history.”
To get through it, the District Attorney’s Office became a “paperless” prosecution office by scanning more than 50 million pages. Additionally, the office is moving forward with a strategic plan to reduce the case backlog that has yielded a steady decrease in overall cases while focusing on getting Harris County’s most violent and dangerous criminals to trial and bringing justice to crime victims and their families, Ogg said.
An athletic trainer who acted as the ringleader with eight former NFL players in a scheme to defraud an NFL player trust fund by submitting false claims for medical benefits has pleaded guilty, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Saturday.
The scheme was investigated by the fraud unit of the Texas Department of Insurance in cooperation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“By working together, these players, aided by a trainer who thought he knew how to game the system, stole from their former teammates,” Ogg said. “The Texas Department of Insurance worked hard to expose this scam and get justice for the victims.”