Former City of Pittsburgh building inspector sentenced on bribery conviction
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A former City of Pittsburgh building inspector has been sentenced to home confinement and ordered to pay fines after being found guilty of accepting bribes.
According to the Department of Justice, 59-year-old Walter Eiseman was sentenced in court to 18 months probation, 90 days of home confinement, a $1,375 forfeiture, and a $1,500 fine after his conviction of bribery.
Eiseman was a building inspector for the city and was responsible for performing inspections of properties that were the subject of applications for occupancy. In 2018, a project wanting to redevelop a downtown commercial property into luxury apartments and hotel rooms came under his inspection.
In order to get a tax credit the developer would have to receive a temporary certificate of occupancy for one of the building's floors by the end of December 2018.
Eisman admitted that in December 2018, he inspected two of the building's floors to grant the developer the temporary certificate of occupancy but for a price.
He accepted home appliances from the developer which were delivered in January 2019 and he also admitted to soliciting a set of kitchen cabinets from the developer, but those were ultimately not delivered.
Eisman's sentence was handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak.
