Dallas mayor pro tem pleads guilty to accepting bribes
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway accepted more than $450,000 in kickbacks and bribes, in part through a phoney consulting agreement, gambling money and trips to Las Vegas and elsewhere, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Caraway, the second highest-ranking elected official in Dallas, pleaded guilty to two federal charges in the public corruption case and has resigned from the Dallas city council. Federal court records show he received kickback funds from Robert Leonard, president and owner of Force Multiplier Solutions, and Leonard’s business associate.
U.S Attorney Erin Nealy Cox announced Thursday that a judge accepted the guilty pleas from Caraway and Leonard.
Cox said that Leonard, aided by his associate, paid a combined total of more than $3.5 million to Caraway and Rick Sorrells, former superintendent for Dallas County Schools, in return for favourable action related to Force Multiplier Solutions, a technology company that puts cameras on school buses.
The effort, she said, helped the company and Leonard secure more than $70 million in contracts and agreements with Dallas County Schools, the troubled agency which residents last year voted to dissolve. The organization had provided transportation for thousands of students.
“An entire public entity relied upon by parents and school children alike was destroyed in the wake of this scandal,” Cox said Thursday.
Caraway’s attorney, Michael Payma, said Thursday morning that the court documents speak for themselves. He said Caraway must still be sentenced and declined to comment further.