JP Indicted On Bribery Charges
Dewayne Charleston Released On Bond
POSTED: Tuesday, July 7, 2009
UPDATED: 5:47 pm CDT July 7,
2009
HOUSTON -- A Waller County justice of the peace was indicted on bribery charges, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.
Dewayne Charleston, 46, is accused of conspiring with former Hempstead Mayor Pro-Tem Larry Wilson and former city alderman Paris Kincade to extort bribe payments from a local demolition contractor in exchange for city contracts.
The city contracts were funded with federal HUD money.
Charleston is also charged with two additional counts of aiding and abetting Wilson and Kincade to commit federal programs fraud.
Wilson and Kincade were previously convicted and are not charged in this case, officials said.
The indictment alleged that Charleston, Wilson and Kincade received $14,500 in bribes during July 2005 and January 2008.
Charleston admitted the contractor gave him money, but insisted it was not a bribe. He said it was business.
"I did a lot of work for him. I made a lot of phone calls, not as a judge, but as a friend, and as a local business person who was seeking to try get some minority contracts," Charleston said.
Charleston was released on a $100,000 bond. He said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
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