Waller County Justice of the Peace DeWayne Charleston has been sentenced to five years probation on federal bribery charges.
Under terms of the plea bargain, Charleston will avoid any jail time.
He could have received up to five years in jail and a fine of $250,000.
Charleston becomes the third Waller County official to plead guilty in the scheme to solicit bribes in exchange for awarding demolition contracts. Former Hempstead Aldermen Larry Wilson, Sr., and Paris Kincaid earlier entered guilty pleas on similar charges.
Charleston had been accused of being the ringleader in the bribery scheme. The relatively light sentence renewed speculation Charleston may have cooperated with federal investigators to implicate others in the bribery scheme or other corruption-related charges.
Charleston, Wilson and Kincaid were all accused of conspiring to extort bribes from Sidney Johnson, owner of Sid’s Recycling and Demolition, in order for Johnson to receive city contracts to demolish condemned structures. The case was investigated by federal agents because the money involved came from federal program funds.
Days after his indictment and arrest, Charleston was suspended from his duties by the Texas Commission on Judicial Standards but continued to draw his annual $47,900 salary.
Court documents made public following Charleston’s arrest included recorded conversations of the JP making grandiose claims that he could “own” Waller County through the scheme.
The recordings also suggested other unnamed Waller County officials may have been involved in the scandal.
The conversations were recorded by Johnson, who worked as an undercover FBI operative during the four-year investigation into corruption in Waller County.
In one recording, Charleston talks about how the bribery scheme involving Wilson and Kincaid can help him and Johnson “own” Waller County.
“We can own Waller County is we play these Negroes right,”Charleston said in one recording.
He also instructed Johnson to tell Wilson and Kincaid to claim the money was a campaign contribution if anyone questions the payment.
Court documents also said an “unindicted co-conspirator” in Prairie View also accepted bribe money. The indictment went on to say the Prairie View official then failed to deliver on the job promised for the bribe.
The conspiracy allegedly began on July 18, 2005, and continued until Jan. 30, 2008.
If I was Charleston I think I’d be moving out of Waller County..Whoever he rolled over on is not going to be very happy with him.
This makes me sick. He should have gotten jail time but at least he loses his retirement!