Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Pleads Guilty to ... a Lot

Dwaine Caraway pleaded guilty to two federal charges
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 9, 2018 6:02 PM CDT
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Pleads Guilty to ... a Lot
In this Feb. 19, 2018 photo, Dallas City council member Dwaine Caraway, of District 4, speaks during a news conference calling for the National Rifle Association to be disinvited from hosting the 2018 NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas while Caraway was outside Dallas City Hall in Dallas.   (Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway accepted more than $450,000 in kickbacks and bribes, in part through a phony 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, per the AP. Federal court records show he received kickback funds from Robert Leonard, president and owner of Force Multiplier Solutions, and Leonard's business associate. US Attorney Erin Nealy Cox announced Thursday that a judge accepted the guilty pleas from Caraway and Leonard.

Cox says 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 favorable action related to Force Multiplier Solutions, a technology company that puts cameras on school buses. The effort, she says, 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. Click for the full story.

(More Dallas stories.)

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