FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — After more than a year of investigation, the Fort Bend County tax assessor-collector and two others now face federal charges for misusing taxpayer money, according to the Department of Justice.
Investigators say they arrested Fort Bend County tax assessor Carmen Turner, deputy tax clerk Shemerrylyn Fields, and Victor Ewing, the father of Turner’s adult son, on Thursday morning.
ABC13 first reported the allegations last year, but now prosecutors are sharing more details.
Turner allegedly used the Tax Office Payroll to pay an employee to care for her mother at the taxpayer’s expense.
According to investigators, Turner paid a deputy tax clerk to care for her mother and even brought on her adult son’s father as a “department coordinator.”
Investigators say that it went on for two years, lasting from September 2023 to September 2025.
“Fields and Ewing were logging in. Clocking fake work and logging out all under the knowledge of Turner,” Aaron Reitz, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said.
Investigators allege Turner used county payroll to pay Fields and Ewing as county employees even though they weren’t doing work for the county.
“Fields was a full-time caretaker of Turner’s elderly mother, who herself was a recipient of a robust package of public benefits,” Reitz said.
Investigators say that Fields identified herself as the caregiver for Turner’s mother to an occupational therapist, but didn’t specify the kind of care that was given.
Investigators also say taxpayers foot the bill for that care and claim Ewing, who was hired as a “department coordinator.”
“Which is a position, as fake as it sounds,” Reittz said.
According to investigators, Ewing never worked in the county at all, and made $36 an hour. Instead, investigators say he actually worked at O’Hare Airport in Chicago.
Prosecutors say both were told to clock in and out as if they were working at the tax office.
“Those tax dollars were converted into paychecks. Those paychecks were given to two sham employees,” Reitz said.
This indictment says Ewing would receive money and kick it back to Turner through bank accounts and Cash App.
It also notes that on Jan. 12, 2024, Ewing’s airport security badge showed he was working at O’Hare from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m…. at the same time, he allegedly used Fort Bend County Phone to clock in and out of the tax office remotely.
Investigators say a fourth co-conspirator is cooperating with the feds in the case.
Both Turner and Fields went before a judge on Thursday afternoon. Turner said she hired an attorney and was told not to discuss the case with employees in the clerk’s office, while Fields was assigned a defense attorney.
It is unclear whether they have been officially released from custody.
Eyewitness News reached out to Turner’s representatives but has not heard back.
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.