Former City of San Antonio Employee Sentenced to Federal Prison in Bribery Scheme

In San Antonio, 44–year-old Fernando Jose De Leon, former Assistant Development Services Director of the Land Development Division within the City of San Antonio’s Planning and Development Services Department, was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for his role in a bribery scheme involving city contracts announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge William Cotter, San Antonio.

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ordered that De Leon pay almost $284,949.21 restitution and be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term.

According to court records, between 2004 and 2009, the defendant conspired with 51-year-old Oscar Gilberto Rodriguez, a former employee of the San Antonio firm Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc., to defraud and steal money from Pape-Dawson and its clients through Rapid Permit Service, Inc. (RPS).  RPS was a hoax company created by De Leon and Rodriguez to do permit expediting work on Pape-Dawson projects.  As part of the conspiracy, Rodriguez would submit fraudulent RPS invoices to Pape-Dawson for payment.  Rodriguez and De Leon subsequently divided the illegally obtained proceeds.

Last month, Rodriguez was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $315,000 restitution.  On October 16, 2014, Rodriguez and De Leon each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and to use interstate communication facilities to facilitate bribery under Texas law.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney James Blankinship prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.