DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – Former Dallas City Councilman and Dallas County Schools Board President Larry Duncan pleaded guilty to tax evasion for his involvement in the DCS bribery scandal.
It’s the latest guilty plea in a scandal that sent shock waves through Dallas City Hall as federal authorities continue to crack down on the corruption that led to the demise of Dallas County Schools.
DCS used to provide school bus services for county students. It shut down in November of 2017 after numerous complaints and was almost $103 million in debt.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox, who made the announcement on Monday, said between 2012 and 2016, Duncan accepted close to a quarter of a million dollars from Force Multiplier Solutions President Robert Leonard, who was pursuing a school bus stop-arm camera contract with DCS.
She said Duncan used most of the money as a personal piggy bank.
“Instead of putting Mr. Leonard’s money towards legitimate purposes associated with his re-election bid. Mr. Duncan admits he used the money for personal gain essentially treating his campaign account like his own personal bank account,” she said.
Prosecutors said Duncan never disclosed the money he funneled from the campaign on his tax returns, thus hiding the money from the IRS.
Cox said her office never stopped working to provide justice in this case.
“Perhaps Mr. Duncan underestimated our commitment to exposing this public corruption. Perhaps others have as well but that would be a mistake,” she said.
Duncan faces up to a year in federal prison and has agreed to reimburse the government for taxes owed.
Four others have been convicted in the scandal, including former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwayne Carraway, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and fraud back in August.
Leonard pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud after investigators discovered he’d given over $3 million in bribes to Caraway and former Dallas County Schools Superintendent Ricky Sorrells.
Sorrells pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. Slater Swartwood, who operated the shell companies designed to hide the bribes, admitted to conspiring to launder money in December of 2017.
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