Cy-Fair-area co. sues former federal prisoners

by Scott Gordon | November 10, 2010 4:18 pm

A Cy-Fair-area manufacturing company is suing two former federal prisoners, alleging they stole information from the company in order to establish a fraudulent competitor and sabotaged the company's website.

Global Valve and Controls LLC filed suit on Nov. 8 in the Harris County District Court against Richard Lee Carlisle Jr., Phylis Carlisle and Faust Villazan, claiming theft of trade secrets, fraud, tortious interference with business relations and conspiracy.

Richard Carlisle served a two-year federal prison sentence that ended in July 2009, after being convicted of stealing information from a different company. Villazan also served a two-year sentence in a bribery case, and the suit says he is currently in a halfway house that is part of the federal-prison system.

The plaintiff says that after Carlisle's release, he got a job in Global Valve's I.T. department, then used his job to steal vendor and pricing information. He then allegedly used this information to set up a competing company called New Age Valve and Controls.

The suit also says that Carlisle sabotaged contact information on the plaintiff's website and made physical threats to co-workers.

The plaintiff seeks a restraining order and an injunction to prevent the defendants from contacting Global Valve customers or selling any product that Global Valve also sells. The suit also seeks to prevent the defendants from coming within 500 feet of Global Valve's office or any of its employees, and from accessing any of Global Valve's computer servers.

Global Valve and Control Inc. is being represented in the case by Houston attorney Charles H. Peckham.

Harris County District Court Case No. 2010-73624.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Harris County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.