Ex-courthouse clerk charged with felony for throwing files in trash after being fired
A former Harris County, Texas, courthouse clerk has been accused of throwing thousands of pages of court documents into the trash after being fired.
Steven Calyen, who was fired Tuesday, was charged with felony tampering with a public record, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Calyen was on his way to an exit interview when he was seen throwing court files into a trash can, according to Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel.
“This has never happened in anybody’s recent memory here at the courthouse,” Daniel said. “It makes me very angry that a trusted employee would take this upon themselves as a revenge against the office.”
Some files were recovered by Jaime Zamora, a cameraman for television station KTRK, who said he saw Calyen tossing files into a trash can. Dozens of files containing more than 2,000 pages were retrieved from multiple trashcans on two floors of the courthouse. The files included sealed records and documents that had not yet been scanned into the courthouse’s electronic filing system.
Calyen reportedly admitted throwing away the files after being confronted. He faces up to 10 years in prison. An investigation is being done to determine whether all the discarded files have been recovered.
A spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment to the Chronicle about the case, which he said is still under investigation.
