CIBOLO, Texas – The husband of Guadalupe County District Clerk Linda Balk was arrested Monday by Cibolo police on a repeat driving while intoxicated charge, booking records obtained Tuesday by KSAT Investigates show.
Josh Balk, 45, was booked into the Guadalupe County Jail on a charge of DWI-2nd before later being released on $5,000 bond, records show.
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The arrest comes months after prosecutors in Caldwell County filed a plea agreement with the court in an unrelated theft case.
The plea agreement, tied to Josh Balk’s 2019 indictment for felony theft and felony misapplication of fiduciary property, required him to serve seven years of community supervision, pay back more than $245,000 in restitution and complete 200 hours of community service, court records show.
Josh Balk, who avoided prison time in the case, was ordered to complete a theft education class and to go through behavioral therapy, records show.
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.
Multiple people came forward to law enforcement claiming that Josh Balk accepted money to complete construction projects, then abandoned the jobs and failed to pay subcontractors who performed work for him.
The 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.
KSAT requested a copy of the DWI arrest report from the Cibolo Police Department on Tuesday morning, but has yet to receive a copy.
Josh Balk has a 2014 conviction for excessive blood alcohol content in Missouri, a background check shows.
His arrest Monday could cause the Caldwell County judge overseeing his theft case to modify Josh Balk’s community supervision, an official familiar with the case told KSAT Tuesday.
Linda Balk did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.