Last week offices at the Houston Health Department were raided by the FBI. It was reported at the time that the raid is part of an investigation into a vendor involved in a COVID-19 education campaign. The employee at the center of the investigation has now been named. He’s been placed on paid administrative leave and has hired an attorney.

Barry Barnes, an administrative marketing coordinator in the Houston Health Department, “maintains he has been following all the regulations, the letter of the law and doing a fantastic job promoting the health department,” according to his attorney. In an ironic twist, Mayor Sylvester Turner’s former law partner is also named Barry Barnes. According to the Houston Chronicle, he “was involved in allegations of attempted contract steering in the housing department last year,” The two men are not related.

The employee is a media specialist, not a mayoral appointee, with a long connection with the city. The FBI served a search warrant related to Barnes and a marketing vendor. The FBI confirmed it was “conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.”

Multiple sources in city hall, the health department and within the legal system have confirmed the names of the Health Department employee and the marketing vendor involved.
The investigation is focused on a COVID-era marketing effort conducted by the city’s health department, according to multiple city sources.

The vendor did marketing work for the city’s COVID-19 outreach team. City records show the vendor worked on a campaign the city rolled out as, “Better Together,” which was a way to encourage masking, handwashing and testing in the early days of the pandemic.

City payment records show the company was paid more than $900,000 since the pandemic began.

The money likely came from federal COVID response funds, which could make any impropriety a federal crime.

City documents show the payments to the marketing vendor were for project management and branding. One invoice we reviewed suggests the core objective was “to provide key stakeholders and partners for the Houston Health Department with safe, on-demand and trusted resources to mitigate crisis.”

Much of the “Better Together” work was paid for by federal relief money in the The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Houston received $405 million under a stimulus package in 2020. The CARES Act was a $2.2T economic stimulus bill passed in Congress and signed by Trump in March 2020. It was a response to the economic crisis which developed because of the pandemic. The stimulus was meant to provide emergency assistance and health care for individuals, families, and businesses affected by the pandemic.

The problem with trillions of dollars in relief being sent out at once is the possibility of fraud or mishandling of the funds. In this case there is the question of one company receiving $900,000 of Houston’s CARES Act funding.

For now, all of the documents connected to the investigation are sealed. That is standard procedure in these investigations. The FBI gathers documents, goes through them, and then charges are or are not filed. This process can take months if charges are filed. If charges are filed, that is when the documents are unsealed and become public records. The FBI released a brief statement. “As in any given matter, if charges are filed, they will eventually become a matter of public record. Department of Justice guidelines prevent us from providing more information at this time.”

The vendor has not been named publicly.

Mayor Turner (pictured above) has pledged full cooperation from the City of Houston. The city describes the investigation as one of a “Health Department marketing vendor and employee conduct.” Barnes signed off on vendor payments for the marketing campaign “Better Together” and others. “Better Together” was Houston’s effort to encourage pandemic mitigation measures like wearing masks, social distancing, and handwashing. Later the campaign included vaccine outreach and organizing.

Barnes has worked in the Houston Health Department since 2007. We’ll see if anything comes of this investigation.