A grand jury indicted Houston’s former Press Secretary, Darian Ward, on Thursday for “failure or refusal of an officer to provide public information.”
Ward served as press secretary for both Sylvester Turner and former mayor Annise Parker. She came under fire following a request from the Texas Monitor’s Trent Siebert. Ward was concealing emails detailing side projects that she was working on during city time.
Initially reported by KPRC 2 the indictment states that as “an officer of public information for the city of Houston, Ward failed and refused to give access to and permit and provide copying of public information.”
Though she only turned over 30 emails, an investigation found over 5,000.
Turner initially gave Ward a paid two-week suspension, but after public pressure refused to cease, he accepted her resignation saying in a statement, “Darian Ward served the city as a key communicator for many years and has our thanks for working in public service, I hope she is successful in her next endeavors.”
Turner is currently on a mission trip to Chile. His office has yet to issue a statement.
