HCC Trustee says stop the harassment

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Harris County attorney and Houston Community College trustee Dave Wilson have spent months fighting in court over where Wilson really resides. On Tuesday, the fight spilled over to Harris County Commissioner's Court with Wilson calling this "selective enforcement." It's a charge the county attorney denies.

Wilson was elected to the Houston Community College Board of Trustees in November. At the time and since, he said he resides in an apartment above his electrician's school on W. 34th street -- not at the far-nicer home he and his wife own nearby but out of the HCC district he was running for.

After Wilson won the election, and County Attorney Vince Ryan sued Wilson, trying to keep him from office. To prove it before trial, Ryan combed over Wilson's family Facebook pages and added his wife and kids to a witness list.

After he found that out Wilson told us, "They're abusing their power. Vince Ryan is totally out of control."

On Tuesday, Wilson was at commissioners' court to ask it all to stop.

"I apologize for taking your time and I especially apologize for the county attorney wasting valuable taxpayer resources on his frivolous lawsuit against me," he told Commissioners.

He claimed the county attorney has spent $100,000 on the case. The county attorney says the real amount (not counting staff time) is just under $8,000.

Among the costs, the county spent $3,000 on private investigators to trail Wilson. At least one of those PIs rented a room at the Super 8 across from Wilson's claimed residence capturing video of Wilson coming in and out of that warehouse apartment.

When he saw the video Wilson told us, "He caught me red handed living at my residence."

The county attorney's office says this is important work to protect voters who deserve a representative who lives where he says he does.

"Mr. Wilson likes the publicity. He likes to make these appearances and he likes to make allegations that are difficult to respond to," Robert Soard, Ryan's chief of staff, told Eyewitness News.

The trial is now slated for July.

Months ago, we asked the county attorney for records of how many other residency complaints like this they've looked into. They went to the Texas Attorney General, hoping to keep the records secret. It's been weeks since the attorney general ordered them to turn some of the documents over and just Tuesday, they told us the case against Wilson is the only one they can find in the records for at least the last 10 years.