For Immediate Release
November  22, 2011

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg today released the following statement:

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg today announced that Texas State Representative Joe Driver has pled guilty to Abuse of Official Capacity, a third degree felony.

Driver is accused of converting more than $20,000 of State travel reimbursement funds intended for his campaign office holder account by depositing those funds into his personal account. Driver should have repaid the reimbursement funds to his campaign office holder account, which had initially been used to pay the travel expenses.

The District Attorney’s Office recommended a sentence of five years deferred adjudication probation, a $5,000 fine and that he perform any treatment and counseling as recommended by the probation department. Driver will repay $14,321.49 to his office holder account in addition to the $49,426.87 he had previously repaid, bringing the total amount repaid to $63,748.36. Sentencing is set for December 19th in the 299th District Court.

“Misuse of taxpayer money violates the public’s trust. It is most egregious in these hard economic times. Our Public Integrity Unit will continue to protect the people of Texas from unlawful and unethical conduct by elected officials,” said District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Representative Driver, who represents House District 113 in the Texas House of Representatives, has announced that he is not running for reelection next term.

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