DALLAS _ Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, according to documents filed in Dallas federal court Thursday morning.
He has also resigned from the City Council.
The 66-year-old Caraway, who served as the city's interim mayor in 2011, admitted to accepting $450,000 in bribes and kickbacks from two key figures in the scandal that last year brought down the school bus agency called Dallas County Schools: Bob Leonard, who owned the stop-arm camera company that took millions from DCS; and Slater Swartwood Sr., an associate of Leonard's.
"Over the past several weeks, through a lot of prayer and soul searching, I have decided that I must take responsibility for my actions," Caraway wrote in his resignation letter, addressed to City Secretary Bilirae Johnson. "I have dedicated much of my life to serving others, but have never claimed to be without sin. I am truly sorry that I must end my career as an elected official because I betrayed the public's trust that I worked so very hard to earn."
Caraway is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14 and faces seven years in federal prison under his agreement.
Leonard also pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. Court documents filed Thursday show Leonard cut his deal with federal prosecutors in June. Caraway's plea agreement was signed Aug. 2.
Caraway, a longtime council member from Oak Cliff who grew up and still lives near Cedar Crest Golf Course, admitted to prosecutors that the $390,000 he took from Leonard for "real estate consulting" was "excessive." Court documents show that "Caraway knew that some of the money was to secure his political influence due to his position" as a council member.
Caraway acknowledged taking that money to "further Leonard's business interests." He did that by attempting to persuade the council to vote in support of Leonard's firm Force Multiplier Solutions, the school bus camera company.
"Early on, Caraway told Leonard that he supported the stop-arm program and asked Leonard to make political contributions," according to court documents. "Leonard made these contributions because Caraway asked and knew that Caraway supported" the program.
According to Leonard's factual resume, entered with his plea agreement, Caraway made it clear he could be "influenced." At one point, Leonard said, Caraway told him, "I am the City Council."
According to the plea agreement, if the court accepts the deal cut with federal prosecutors, Caraway will agree to pay a six-figure fine, as well as almost $69,000 owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
"There's plenty I'd like to say," Caraway said when reached Thursday morning, but he said he couldn't comment. He said to speak instead to his attorney, Michael Payma. Payma was not immediately available, but his office said he would release a statement later Thursday afternoon.
Caraway has not been seen at Dallas City Hall since the council returned from its summer break on Aug. 1. He told several colleagues he was severely ill.
"Today is a day of both reckoning and reconciliation," U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said Thursday, "for the city of Dallas and its citizens."
She called it a "major victory in the battle against public corruption."
Mayor Mike Rawlings' chief of staff, Scott Goldstein, said the mayor had not seen the indictment Thursday morning, and was not available for comment. Goldstein said there might be a statement Thursday afternoon.
Caraway introduced Rawlings to Leonard, with whom the mayor met twice. Rawlings has said nothing came of the meetings, and that Leonard "was an eccentric guy, no question about it."
"I'm just so sad for our city and for Dwaine," said Jennifer Staubach Gates, who was the only council member to vote against the school bus cameras in May 2015. "I don't even know how to process it all."
"As a friend of mine, I'm upset that Dwaine and others availed themselves to corruption at DCS," said council member Lee Kleinman. "Nevertheless, governance holds the responsibility of public trust. When that trust is broken, people must be held accountable. It is imperative that we restore the public trust. The city attorney will advise the City Council on our options."
According to court records filed by the U.S. attorney's office, Leonard paid Caraway the $450,000 between 2011 and 2017. The council member admits to hiding close to $100,000 from the IRS in 2014, and to asking Leonard for money on numerous occasions _ cashing those checks at liquor stores and pawn shops. Federal prosecutors say he also received "luxury suits" and fully funded trips to New Orleans, Las Vegas and Austin.
Leonard also paid for security cameras at Caraway's house, a so-called loan for Caraway's father's house, Caraway family funeral expenses, gambling money for the horse track and his campaign bus.
Court documents say that "to disguise the bribe and kickback payments" to Caraway and others, Leonard "funneled a significant portion of the illicit payments through various pass-through companies" he and Swartwood created.
In his plea agreements, also filed Thursday, Leonard admitted to paying Rick Sorrells, former Dallas County Schools superintendent, more than $3 million in bribes and kickbacks _ "including $200,000 toward Sorrells' credit card and student loan debt through a bank account opened in the name of a nonexistent entity."
Sorrells and Swartwood have already pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case.
Federal prosecutors say Leonard paid about $3.5 million to "Dallas area officials," Caraway among them, to secure more than $70 million worth of contracts.
The plea deal comes just two weeks after a lawsuit filed in Dallas County alleged that Caraway and others were part of a conspiracy that cost taxpayers more than $125 million and led to the demise of the bus agency.
The fraud suit was filed by a committee that was appointed to shut down the agency. Also named as defendants were Sorrells, Leonard and Dallas County Schools Board President Larry Duncan, among others. The suit was the first public filing to accuse Caraway of wrongdoing in the Force Multiplier kickback scandal.
Every dollar Leonard paid Caraway was a bribe to get his political support for the stop-arm program and Leonard's plans to build low-income housing in Dallas, according to court documents related to Leonard's plea agreement. At one point, Caraway asked Leonard to contribute to his wife's political campaign, which Leonard says he did.
It was a bribe and Caraway "was fully aware of this quid pro quo," said documents in Leonard's case, which refer to Caraway as "Person C."
According to Leonard, Caraway would say things like, "I want to gamble but I don't have any money right now," or "My car is broken." Leonard said in court documents that he never turned down Caraway's requests for money.
Leonard said he wasn't sure he'd get Caraway's support for the stop-arm program without payments, because based on Leonard's experience, Caraway "did not do anything unless he ... got paid."
Court records show Caraway and Leonard's relationship began in 2011. But Caraway sounded enthusiastic about the bus camera program as early as 2010. "I'm highly supportive of these cameras ... it's putting kids' lives and safety first," Caraway said at the time, when he was mayor pro tem and chair of the public safety committee.
The council passed a stop-arm ordinance in May 2012, which authorized the city and DCS to use school bus cameras to ticket drivers. Then, in March 2013, Caraway disclosed that he had received a retainer worth at least $25,000 from Elf Investments _ a company tied to DCS officials _ but he provided no details on the nature of his work.
That was followed by a second such disclosure in April 2014. Five months later Elf Investments gave Dwaine's father, Bruce Caraway, a $20,000 home loan.
Elf Investments was an entity controlled by Swartwood, Leonard's associate. City emails obtained by The Dallas Morning News show Swartwood and Sorrells talked with top city officials about buying a city property at 3102 Oak Lane. Caraway's interest in the deal was also referenced.
Several council members and Dallas Independent School District trustee candidates received thousands in donations from Leonard and other camera company associates and Dallas County Schools officials. Often, Larry Duncan _ who had long known Caraway and served on the City Council with Caraway's wife Barbara _ acted as a conduit for the donations.
Duncan has not been charged in connection with the DCS scandal. Barbara Caraway could not immediately be reached for comment.
"The tentacles of this corruption run deep," said state Sen. Don Huffines, who led the charge to shut down Dallas County Schools. "I would not be surprised to see more guilty pleas or indictments soon."
Federal prosecutors wouldn't comment Thursday on whether any other public officials took bribes, but said the investigation continues. Eric Jackson, special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI, called it a "sensitive and complex" public corruption case that was "opened based on initial information that came from a local station," referring to KXAS, partner of the Dallas Morning News.
In his resignation letter, which the city secretary received Thursday morning, Caraway said that "other than my family and God, there is nothing I love more than the City of Dallas. It is time to remove the dark cloud that my actions have brought upon our city. I will not allow a prolonged legal battle to become a distraction for our citizens or my colleagues on the council."
John Wiley Price, the Dallas County commissioner, reacted with sadness to the news, despite a longstanding personal and professional feud with Caraway, who ran unsuccessfully to unseat Price in 2016. During that race, Price faced a looming federal corruption trial, which Caraway routinely used to paint Price as a criminal and himself as the candidate with integrity. At his trial last year, a jury acquitted Price on seven counts and hung on four others.
"It's a sad, sad day for all concerned," Price said. "This isn't tit for tat. You don't wish anything upon anyone. I'm sad for his mother, I'm sad for his family, and I'm really sad for the community. It's not a moment of elation for me."
City Attorney Larry Casto told the council via memo Thursday that a special election must be added to the Nov. 6 election to fill the vacancy left by Caraway's resignation.
