A criminal complaint has been filed against Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, along with Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Beth Barron, ADA Cornelia Hartman, and ADA Mary McFaden. The complaint alleges that Ogg and her associates repeatedly refused to file criminal complaints for a man fighting for the well-being of his child.
George Saldana alleges that on June 7, 2018, he submitted a felony criminal complaint to the Harris County District Attorney’s office when visitation was denied him and his child was taken to an undisclosed location by his ex-wife, in violation of child custody laws. As a father trying to see his son, he pleaded for help.
“Precinct 4 told me that if I wanted to find my child, I needed to hire an attorney,” he said.
Saldana was concerned about his child’s safety and appealed to the DA for assistance, but stated that the DA refused to file a felony criminal complaint “due to being in civil litigation.”
Saldana stated that he provided “a great amount of evidence” to support his desire to file. The emailed response from the HCDA said, “The HCDA office only takes complaints from Law Enforcement Agencies.”
He was denied visitation so egregiously that even after he tracked down where his ex-wife had taken the child, she refused visitation for two full years. In 2019, he again attempted to pick his son up for standard visitation and was turned away at the door by the boy’s mother, who refused visitation despite a court order. When he called the police for help, he was arrested for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor, and taken away in handcuffs, but his ex-wife was not arrested for interference with child custody, a felony. It took three years for his ex tobefound in contempt of civil court, but she has continued to violate visitation orders.
On November 13, 2019, Saldana made another complaint, this time for assault. Initially, the HCDA refused to accept the charge for criminal assault, but once Saldana produced video evidence, a citation for Assault by Contact was finally issued by precinct 4. However, when it reached the HCDA office, it was dismissed as a “Family Custody Matter.”
A week later, Saldana attempted to file a felony criminal complaint for another incident of broken child custody agreements and his concern for the safety of his child. He was told the complaint could not go through while the case was being handled in Family Court.
Saldana says he has lost all faith in the criminal justice system and alleges that the Office of the DA has allowed child abuse to continue, refusing his numerous pleas for help.
His complaint reads, “Kim Ogg and Beth Barron blatantly oppressed and deprived me of my rights and privileges protected under law, and allowed additional felony crimes to be committed against me. Justice that is delayed is justice denied.”
