A meeting behind a church with $10,000 cash changing hands, five-figure gifts for a city councilman's "birthday party" and a mistress funneling bribes through a sham consulting company were among details spelled out Monday in a federal indictment alleging corruption at Dallas City Hall.Another developer not named in the indictment was subject to a shakedown by sham "minority objections" to his project that was withdrawn after he agreed to pay "a $100,000 initial payment, a $15,000 retainer, $85,000 when the development's financing closed, $1,500 per hour for consulting services and 5 percent of the developer's fee and cash flow." None of the money was reported as income on Reagan's tax return.
The 166-page indictment accuses state Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, and former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill of extortion and bribery in soliciting and taking payments from affordable housing developers.
Former City Councilman James Fantroy was indicted separately on a charge that he embezzled more than $5,000 from traditionally black Paul Quinn College, where he was a director and treasurer of a program that received federal money.
In all, 16 people were indicted following an FBI-led public corruption probe that burst into view more than two years ago when agents raided city offices.
Hodge, Hill and others are accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from real estate developer Brian Potashnik in exchange for helping his company obtain federal tax credits for low-income housing projects in predominantly minority neighborhoods.
"They extorted developers, and other times these developers would bribe public officials to obtain their support," U.S. Attorney Richard Roper said in a press conference.
The payments in the "complex and multilayered" scheme were designed to be difficult to trace, Roper said. They took several forms, including cash payments disguised as gifts, subcontracting fees and consulting fees paid to the city officials' associates.
In one instance detailed in the indictment, Hill is accused of meeting with two conspirators behind a church, where one handed him "at least $10,000 in cash" extorted from a developer. The indictment did not specify how much money changed hands but accused Hill of failing to pay federal taxes on $216,000 in unreported income between 1996 and 2004.
The government alleges that six-term representative Hodge received free rent and utilities at a Potashnik-owned apartment complex and also had him install $2,000 worth of carpet in an east Dallas house she owns. She is accused of fraud in not reporting $52,400 of taxable income between 2001 and 2005, all from Potashnik.
Others indicted include Sheila Farrington, identified by the government as Hill's former mistress and current wife; former Dallas planning commissioner D'Angelo Lee; and Darren Reagan, CEO of the Black State Employees Association of Texas, an organization that federal officials say represents no black state employees.
"This is a sad day for Dallas," said Mayor Tom Leppert. He sought to reassure residents that "all rules of ethics and conduct will be vigorously enforced."
Some targets of the probe and their supporters have raised questions over the past two years about the investigation because it ensnared only black officials. Robert Casey, special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office, addressed the racial issue as the indictments were announced.
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Only one of the people charged is identified by party, but black city officials in Dallas are all Democrats as a general rule. It appears they have gone from minority preferences to minority shakedown artist. They are obviously not as good at it as Jesse Jackson.
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