CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas – The husband of Guadalupe County District Clerk Linda Balk was sentenced to seven years of community supervision and ordered to pay more than $245,000 in restitution as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors filed with the court this summer, records show.
The plea deal, which allows Josh Balk, 45, to avoid prison time, also requires him to perform 200 hours of community service, to complete a theft education class and to go through behavioral therapy, court records show.
Caldwell County officials released the records this week, following a public records request from KSAT Investigates.
Josh Balk, the husband of Linda Balk, was indicted and arrested in 2019 on charges of theft between $150,000 and $300,000 and misapplication of fiduciary property between $150,000 and $300,000.
The indictment came after a lengthy criminal investigation in multiple counties that was eventually handed off to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.
Josh Balk’s criminal case was moved from Guadalupe County to Caldwell County in 2020, after his attorneys successfully argued it would be difficult for him to have a fair trial if it remained in Guadalupe County.
The plea agreement was signed in court in late April of last year, and filed as an order of deferred adjudication this June, Caldwell County court records show.
Josh Balk’s attorney told KSAT Thursday that the conviction will appear as dismissals on Josh Balk’s criminal record if he completes the terms of the agreement.
Linda Balk accepted more than $30K in contributions from Josh Balk’s construction company
Linda Balk, who was first elected to office in 2018 and then re-elected in 2022, accepted more than $30,000 in campaign contributions from her husband’s construction company as he hurtled toward bankruptcy in 2018, campaign records show.
Many of the contributions to her 2018 campaign came within days of Josh Balk taking draws from a construction loan, records show.
The campaign contributions included two large payments for advertising expenses and one loan.
“I will serve to them, and no comment. You can talk to my consultant,” Linda Balk told KSAT after her formal swearing-in ceremony on New Year’s Day 2019.
Linda Balk did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.