(August 30, 2007)—The Texas Attorney General’s Office evidently isn’t finished asking questions about a scandal in the Falls County Courthouse that led to a guilty plea from one former official and the conviction of a second.

An investigator has been in and out of the courthouse over the last three weeks, according to courthouse sources and on Thursday he was seen walking into the Falls County District Attorney’s Office accompanied by former Falls County Tax Appraisal District official Candace Grams, who was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison on a theft by a public servant charge and five years probation on each of two tampering with evidence charges.

The Attorney General’s Office confirmed the presence of the investigator Thursday, but would make no further comment.

Grams’ attorney also declined to comment.

Grams has been held in the Falls County Jail since her conviction and sentencing.

Grams was indicted in July 2006 for theft by a public servant after an investigation determined that signatures had been forged on appraisal district checks.

While she was free on $50,000 bond on that charge, she was named in additional indictments in August 2006 charging 19 counts of tampering with government records and two counts of fabricating physical evidence.

Those indictments stemmed from allegations that appraisal values were changed on several properties and that false documents were filed.

Meanwhile in January, former Falls County Tax Assessor-Collector Kate Vade Veegaete was sentenced to five years deferred probation after pleading guilty to one count of tampering with government records.

The charges stem from allegations she made illegal changes to the appraised values of some property in the county.

Prosecutors dropped two other felony charges against the former official who vowed to never run for elected office again.

She resigned from the tax office in Marlin after she was indicted in October 2006.

Vande Veegaete also was fined $960 and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

She could have faced up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the state jail felony.

The indictment alleged she illegally changed the appraised values of property owned by family members of Candace Grams.

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