Developer Pleads Guilty To Bribing Dallas City Officials To Benefit Apartment Projects
A Dallas developer faces up to five years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to bribing two Dallas City Council members to support loans and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for his apartment projects.
Sherman Roberts’ dealings with former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and the late Councilwoman Carolyn Davis were at the heart of his Tuesday plea to conspiracy to commit bribery, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Roberts, who was indicted in December 2020, was president and CEO of City Wide Community Development Corp. at the time of the offenses. Davis supported his Patriot’s Crossing, Runyon Springs and Serenity Place projects in exchange for thousands in cash as well as future payouts once she left office, according to court documents.
The Serenity Place project was recommended for a 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit by Davis, who also voted in favor of a nearly $2M city loan for the development.
“Right now you and me are making money,” Roberts texted Davis after the vote.
Davis texted and requested more money about a month later, according to the release.
Sometime thereafter, Davis and Roberts met with Caraway to discuss an issue with the Patriot’s Crossing project. Caraway was given several hundred dollars in cash as well as a $2K per month stipend to give the project to Roberts and stop a request for proposals from being sent out by the city.
“I won’t forget about you,” Roberts said, per the release. “That’s where the money is… the money has never been an issue.”
Roberts is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12. His attorney did not immediately return Bisnow’s request for comment.
Roberts told Bisnow in 2019 that the city had too many rules that made affordable housing projects economically unfeasible. Those comments came amid city efforts to broaden its oversight of affordable housing following a Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General report alleging Dallas officials had misspent $6.6M in HUD funds.
He is just the latest to plead guilty in the matter.
Caraway received a sentence of more than four years in federal prison following a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and tax evasion in 2019. Davis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning an agent of a local government receiving federal benefits but was killed in a car crash before sentencing.
Two other developers have also been charged in Dallas City Hall bribery charges in the past four years.
The developer of the Grand Park Place apartment project, Devin Hall, pleaded guilty to bribery in August 2020. AmeriSouth Realty Group founder Ruel Hamilton is awaiting a retrial on conspiracy and bribery charges concerning the Royal Crest housing project.
