The 13-count indictment of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price paints a detailed picture of an alleged $1 million bribery and corruption scheme in which he used his position to enrich himself by selling his vote and influence.
The scheme involved him, a longtime aide, and a longtime political consultant, the indictment said, and was active from 2001 until June 2011, when the FBI searched Price’s home and office.
The 107-page document lays out the FBI’s case against against Price, claiming he accepted cash, cars and property from friend and consultant Kathy Nealy to influence his votes on a proposed inland port in South Dallas, a county computer contract and even a telephone system for inmates at the Dallas County Jail.
The indictment also alleged he laundered the money with the help of his chief of staff, Dapheny Fain, and never reported the money on his taxes.
Price, Fain, Nealy and Nealy’s account manager Christian Lloyd Campbell were all named in the accusations, which specifically mention bribery, tax fraud and mail fraud.
None of the businesses which paid money used in the alleged bribes were named in the indictment.
“Access” to “Get the Job Done”
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The indictment claims Nealy promised her clients “access” to “get the job done,” according to the indictment.
Price pushed businesses to hire Nealy and gave her confidential information about county bids, the FBI said.
From 2001-2011, Nealy gave Price at total of $950,000 in cash and benefits, prosecutors alleged.
According to the indictment, Nealy “often arranged meetings, lunches and dinners with Price for her business clients that had matters in front of the Commissioners Court.”
Price, in return, voted in their favor while accepting money from Nealy, prosecutors said.
Nealy paid Price $447,217 in cash, $191,130 in cars including a BMW convertible and $198,130 in land along South Lancaster Road in Dallas County and other property in Canton in VanZandt County, the indictment said.
She also provided Price with rent payments totaling $113,600 from one of the tenants on Lancaster Road, prosecutors said.
To conceal the payments, she used nine different bank accounts, the indictment said.
Computer Contract
Part of the charges focus on a series of county computer contracts dating from 2001 until 2011.
During those years, the county invited businesses to bid on computer services and equipment and decided which companies should advance in the bidding process.
The bids were supposed to be confidential but Price leaked the information to Nealy to benefit her clients, the indictment said.
In the indictment, companies involved in the process were referred to only by letters, such as “Business S.”
One business bid on a county computer contract in 2001 and paid Nealy $60,000 “for her access to and influence with Price” and continued to pay her $5,000 per month plus a “success fee” for “direct communication to appropriate decision makers.”
Price voted to award the company a county contract, the indictment said, and continued its business with the county until 2004 until it sold its assets to another company, which continued to pay Nealy $5,000 per month.
The first computer company paid Nealy a total of $258,000 under a “consulting agreement,” the indictment said.
Nealy passed on $218,000 to Price in 70 separate transactions, prosecutors said.
Other computer companies, including one that won a contract to provide desktop technical support to Dallas County, also were involved in the alleged scheme, the indictment said.
Price also pressured the company to hire certain sub-contractors, according to the indictment.
Inland Port
The indictment also claims that Price was involved in a corrupt scheme involving a large inland port in South Dallas, which was first proposed in 2005 and never built.
Price first supported the plan, the indictment said, but later delayed a key vote to benefit a company that had hired Nealy.
Nealy paid Price thousands of dollars within days of his support of her client and concealed the payments, prosecutors said.
“Nealy created false books and records to conceal the quantity and dollar amount of payments she made to Price,” the indictment said.
MMS Company
The indictment claims Price and Fain, his longtime assistant, operated a company that was set up in 2003 called MMS which sold clothing and novelty items.
Price received $133,925 from the business, which was not reported on his tax return, the indictment said.
Prosecutors also claim Fain lied to FBI agents when she told them she didn’t benefit financially from the company.
The income was concealed because Fain cashed and diverted checks to Price and sometimes split the payments with him, the indictment said.
Land Deals
Nealy and Fain helped Price hide money from the IRS by titling property in their names, the indictment said.
In one deal in 1999, prosecutors claim, Fain was a “straw purchaser” of property on Grady Niblo Road. Two other pieces of land involved in the fraudulent deals were on Interstate 30 and Fairport Road, the indictment.
Price ended up getting the money from the sales, according to the indictment.
