Mother of rape victim in center of DA race speaks out

In the continuing fallout over the mistreatment of a jailed rape victim, the case has turned from a news revelation to political ping pong in the race for Harris County District Attorney race.

Republican incumbent Devon Anderson is running against Democratic challenger Kim Ogg.

The rape victim's mother, who was featured in Ogg’s campaign ad, said the DA's office should never have jailed her daughter to make sure she would testify. The case has been a contentious point in the Harris County DA race.

Now, the father of the rape victim, Jenny, is making his opinion known, siding with Harris County DA Devon Anderson. In a Facebook post that the DA's office shared, he writes in part:

"As Jennifer's father, I can tell everyone the commercial I stumbled into about my daughter is ~90 percent false...it's sad to see the Ogg campaign use my daughter’s mental health circumstances for political gain."

But Jenny's mother said, to her knowledge, he hasn't been a part of their lives for years.

“When I picked her up she had a black eye. I picked her up from jail. He didn't know when she was picked up from jail. My ex-husband had no clue when she got out from jail. He couldn't even tell you where she is today. I want someone to ask him. Do you know where she is? I do,” said the mother.

Jenny's mother said nothing she has said is false, referring to Jenny’s father’s post. Instead, she points to deceit she said came from the DA's office. She showed Fox 26 News an email from the prosecutor promising a "female advocate that will be with her the entire time she is in the courthouse" but Jenny's mom says there was never a victim advocate provided at any time.

“She was thrown under the bus. She was left there and I tried my best to get her the attention she needed,” said the mother.

We did reach out to Anderson's campaign. They countered, saying they had updated the dad during the case, and that two advocates were provided -- one on the trial date and another for the pretrial meeting.