The Qui Tam Blog

A lawsuit was filed Monday, July 19th by Wilfrido Willie Mata, the former IT director of the Harrison County sheriff’s office’s claiming he was illegally fired for being a whistle blower.

“You can’t say to somebody, ‘Thanks for reporting. You’re fired,’” Houston whistleblower attorney Joel Androphy said.

According to the lawsuit, instead of looking the other way while an outsider hacked into the county’s computer system, Mata went to the FBI. In October, Mata disclosed his cooperation to the sheriff’s office. In February, the suit says his performance review was rated average. In May, he was fired.

“That timing is too close to not raise a lot of suspicion that he was fired because of complaining,” Androphy said. The lawsuit alleges the sheriff’s office violated the Whistleblower Act.

Watch the complete story as reported on WKTRK Eyewitness News.