Second Person Pleads Guilty in Federal Bribery Case Involving Dallas City Hall and Housing Developer

A second person named in a public corruption case involving former City Council member Carolyn Davis has pleaded guilty, according to federal documents filed Tuesday afternoon.Jeremy Scroggins, 44, admitted to using his not-for-profit company, Hip Hop Government, to funnel bribes from developer Ruel Hamilton to then-chair of the council's housing committee between November 2013 and June 2015.Hamilton, then chairman of low-income housing developer AmieriSouth Realty Group, was charged with two counts of bribery concerning a local government receiving federal benefits. Federal investigators said he paid Davis $40,000 in bribes so that she would help him push an affordable housing project through the city council.Davis, who was chair of the council's Housing Committee at the time of the alleged bribes, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs using federal funds. Both Davis and Scroggins pleaded guilty in exchange for no more than three years in prison.The plea agreement was filed shortly before 1 p.m., while mourners gathered to remember Davis and her daughter, Melissa Davis Nunn. The two women were killed in a crash with a suspected drunken driver last week.  Continue reading...