Former Dallas City Council Member Carolyn Davis Pleads Guilty to Taking Bribes

This story is breaking and will updated throughout the day.Former Dallas City Council member Carolyn Davis has pleaded guilty to taking bribes from a real estate developer while she was chair of the council's Housing Committee.According to the federal plea unsealed Friday morning, some time between November 2013 to June 2015, Davis took money "in exchange for favorable official action" — that is, to get an affordable housing project through the council.The official charge is conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs using federal funds. She is facing no more than five years in federal prison, and will have to pay a $250,000 fine.The indictment says that she took the money from someone identified only as Person A, a developer of affordable housing projects. The document says, too, that in order to hide the bribe Person A wrote checks to someone identified as Person B or that person's nonprofit. Person B then cashed the checks and handed the money to Davis.Davis received the cash on four separate occasions, from April through June 2015, according to the indictment.The plea says she collected around $40,000 and a promise of future employment as a consultant for a real-estate deal worth more than $2.5 million in "City of Dallas funds and obligations." Davis, a graduate of James Madison High School, represented South Dallas from 2007 until she was term-limited of office in 2015. During return visits to Dallas City Hall in recent months she hinted she was going to run again for the seat currently occupied by Kevin Felder.  Continue reading...

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