Colony Ridge Developer Sentenced To 45 Days In Jail For Drunk Driving

 The man behind the much-maligned Colony Ridge development in Texas was sentenced to 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to two drunk driving charges.

William “Trey” Harris is one of the developers behind Colony Ridge, a sprawling land development outside of Houston, Texas that has allegedly used financial and marketing tactics to systematically attract illegal immigrants as its clientele. He’s been in the spotlight since a series of investigations into his development, which is now facing lawsuits from both state and federal officials regarding his operation.

The first of the two driving while intoxicated charges came in November 2023, when Harris was charged with a Class A misdemeanor, the most severe misdemeanor charge. Harris’ blood alcohol levels were found to be twice the legal limit at over .15. The Colony Ridge developer was then charged with driving while intoxicated again in February.

The Colony Ridge developer, who has been in jail since May 17, will now be required to serve a total of 45 days in the county jail and pay $12,000 in court fees. Harris is also barred from driving a car until late November.

The Colony Ridge developer’s sentence comes with his development under siege by government investigations. The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in December that the two federal agencies were launching a joint lawsuit against Colony Ridge, alleging that the development engaged in predatory financing and bait-and-switch sales while churning through borrowers “in a cycle of foreclosure.”

Colony Ridge was hit by another lawsuit earlier this year, this one from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton told The Daily Wire that “literally every sale” made by Colony Ridge, which is estimated to have roughly 75,000 residents, could have been in violation of consumer financial protection law.

“Typically under the deceptive trade practice, it’s $10,000 per violation,” Paxton explained in an interview. “I think they’re targeting Hispanics. They’re targeting people that they think they can sell this to and they might not understand because of the language barrier what they’re actually signing up for,” he went on to say. “Since many of them are illegal, they’re not used to knowing what the culture is here.”