A public defender in Dallas is facing charges for allegedly having a romantic relationship with one of her former clients and giving him confidential information about his brother’s case, reports the New York Post. The public defender, 28-year-old Ragan Sierra Moreno, is accused of providing sensitive case information to the inmate, Todd Whitfield, who then used it to threaten one of his brother’s alleged victims. 

Moreno was arrested but has since been released on bond. It is unclear if she has hired another lawyer or if she is still working for the county. However, as of now, she is still allowed to practice law in Texas. Moreno had been working for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office for about eight months and was assigned to represent Whitfield in a misdemeanor vehicle burglary case. The relationship between Moreno and Whitfield began despite him going to jail for probation violations. 

The charges against Whitfield were eventually dropped, and Moreno was no longer his lawyer when she allegedly shared the documents with him. Detectives became aware of the relationship when they received a tip about Moreno spending a lot of time visiting Whitfield in jail. They discovered that the two had communicated multiple times, and Whitfield had used other inmates’ accounts to contact Moreno. 

The messages they exchanged were personal, indicating a romantic relationship. During a call, Whitfield instructed Moreno to look for him in jail by waving a towel in front of his cell window. Moreno admitted that she had wanted to expose herself to him but couldn’t because of law enforcement presence. 

On September 12, Whitfield asked Moreno to look up his brother’s criminal proceedings and prior case information. Moreno used her work laptop to access restricted search engines and shared confidential details with Whitfield about the victims involved in his brother’s cases. Whitfield later sent threatening messages to one of the victims. 

If convicted, Moreno’s punishment may include losing her law license in Texas.