Texas Lawmaker Allegedly Spent Over $51,000 On Online Psychic

A court filing this week alleged that a Texas lawmaker spent over $51,000 on an online psychic, showed up for work at the Capitol under the influence of drugs and hid a cellphone from investigators.

Rep. Dawnna Dukes, a Democrat who represents Austin, Texas, faces an Oct. 16 misdemeanor corruption trial, the Associated Press reported Thursday. She is also accused of giving a taxpayer-funded raise to an aide to cover the expenses of picking up Dukes’ daughter from school.

The filing from the Travis County district attorney’s office also alleged that Dukes paid around $1,000 a week for an online psychic from December 2014 to January 2016.

Authorities say that Dukes on March 29 showed up to a House Appropriations Committee hearing clearly impaired. The documents allege she at one point during the session said, “I know I’m talking a lot. I’m full of morphine and will be headed out of here soon.”

The psychic and impairment allegations are listed in court documents as “extraneous acts” that aren’t charges but could be used in the case against Dukes.

Prosecutors additionally accused Dukes of handing over the wrong cellphone in an executed search warrant for her phone. The court documents outline that Dukes had been late to two court hearings and was late in filing a campaign finance report and personal financial statement. She was fined for the late filings.

The filings also say that Dukes was absent from roll call 65 percent of the time during the 2017 legislative session and 36 percent of the time during a special session.

Prosecutors hope to salvage 13 counts of felony charges they brought against Dukes but had to put them on hold last week. The charges hinged on travel reimbursements that Dukes collected from the state. A House official gave prosecutors conflicting information on whether Dukes had wrongly collected the reimbursements or not.

Dukes had announced plans to resign before January but went back on those plans and was sworn in for her 12th term at the begging of this year.