HOUSTON – KPRC 2 Investigates obtained federal legal records on Tuesday showing a recent “Notice of Resetting” regarding former City of Houston City Council Relations Director William-Paul Thomas. Federal records in December showed Thomas was to have been sentenced this past Monday, January 22nd.
However, Thomas learned last week that his sentencing date for January 22nd was being pushed back three days to Jan. 25th. Then this past Friday paperwork was filed showing a new date of February 5th.
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This all comes as a result of Thomas - a senior advisor and friend to former Mayor Sylvester Turner - being convicted for conspiracy tied to cash bribes. In the summer of 2022, Thomas admitted guilt in a Houston federal courtroom without ever being indicted or directly charged. Experts told KPRC 2 Investigates at the time, that the federal case must have been overwhelming for Thomas to not put up a fight.
This latest set of motions makes it nine times that Thomas has been provided with a federal sentencing date.
This all comes two months after KPRC 2 Investigates exposed a “Porsche Partnership” between Thomas and former airport concessionaire Jason Yoo. The two men purchased a convertible Porsche together in April 2018 during a period when Yoo was asking Thomas to assist him in getting hundreds of thousands in airport fines dismissed. It is unclear if our bombshell investigation had any impact on the recent delays, but the investigation did catch many Houstonians by surprise.
RELATED: Porsche partnership uncovered by KPRC 2 Investigates deep inside Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office
The latest rounds of delays also are taking place three months after it was made clear to Thomas that he was no longer on the hook for paying his attorney fees. As a federal judge officially made Monique Sparks his federally appointed public defender. KPRC 2 Investigates caught up with Thomas getting into a different convertible Porsche minutes after he learned he no longer was required to pay his attorney.
Legal experts tell KPRC 2 Investigates that the latest cancellations combined with a small window of time until his February date indicates that federal prosecutors may be close to a final agreement on what to propose for sentencing.
