Former Dallas Councilman Dwaine Caraway Will Be Sentenced Friday For Accepting Bribes
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - On Friday, a judge will sentence former Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway to prison for accepting more than $450,000 in bribes.
In a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office last August, Caraway admitted to taking the money.
At the time, he was the second most powerful person in Dallas city government.
In his years on the city council, he led campaigns to ban plastic bags and get men to pull up their sagging pants.
In court records filed Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed Caraway will be a key witness in another bribery case involving a local developer.
It asked sentencing to be delayed until Caraway is able to testify this fall so that his cooperation could be taken into account.
Judge Barbara Lynn said, 'no.'
Caraway had no comment Thursday night when CBS 11 tried to reach him at his home.
"Caraway entered a plea of guilty to two charges -- one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and one count of tax evasion," said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox during a news conference on August 9, 2018. "The conspiracy took place between 2011 and 2017."
Cox spelled out the details of the multi-million dollar conspiracy which found Caraway being paid close to $500,000 for his votes and political influence. This all surrounds contracts for a company that was placing cameras on Dallas County school buses.
According to Cox, Caraway admitted to taking kickbacks, hiding from the IRS, and using his position to criminally support the company that received millions of dollars in contracts from the now defunct Dallas County Schools system, which was in charge of school buses across Dallas County.
Dallas County Schools had transported tens of thousands of students each day for the Dallas Independent School District and other districts in the county. But, after fraud allegations surfaced, voters last November decided to disband the agency for good. The school districts are now in charge of transporting their own students.
"This case," Cox explained, "and the guilty pleas in this case, reflect harmful and criminal conduct by both politicians and business executives -- public officials who betray their position of trust and harm the integrity of our government."
