Patrece Lee, the former manager for the Houston Water Department, was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison following conviction in a bribery scheme. This week, she was denied parole and a new Texas law allows the board to delay subsequent reviews until 2028.
Lee, who faced charges of abuse of official capacity and four counts of bribery, used her position to funnel more than $400,000 to her brother’s construction company. She was also accused of soliciting kickbacks and steering vendors to her own consulting firm, ultimately taking in about $320,000 in kickbacks.
As part of a plea deal that required her testimony against co-conspirators, Lee pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony bribery charge. She was arrested in May 2024 and sentenced in February 2025. In total, seven people were charged in the scandal, including Lee and her brother, though Lee was described as the one essentially running the operation.
Lee became eligible for parole on July 5—just five months into her prison sentence. Under Texas guidelines, those convicted of nonviolent second-degree felonies typically qualify for parole consideration after serving one-quarter of their sentence. The law also allows the Board of Pardons and Paroles to consider other factors, including rehabilitation, time served, and the nature of the crime, when determining parole eligibility.
Senate Bill 1506, passed earlier this year, took effect on September 1. Before the law, parole boards were required to hold hearings annually, scheduling them as soon as possible after each one-year anniversary. Now, parole boards can set the next hearing date themselves—anywhere between one and five years for nonviolent felonies, and between one and 10 years for certain violent crimes.
In Lee’s case, the parole board denied her parole and set her next eligibility date for August 1, 2028—nearly three years from now and more than four years after her initial arrest.
Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers of Houston said, “I just went ‘Yes!’ Senate Bill 1506. It worked. Previously, before September 1, a case like Patrece Lee … if she was denied parole, she would have had to come back up for parole again every year, so you never get a break.”
Kahan added that the new law is also critical for restoring trust in the system, noting, “At least now we know, we’re not gonna have to hear anything about Patrece Lee until the year 2028.”
