The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Darrick Jonathan Chavis, age 34, of Antioch, California, pled guilty yesterday afternoon to two counts of mail fraud and filing a false tax return in connection with his participation in a public corruption case.  The case involved a fraudulent scheme that bilked the City of Hercules out of more than $390,494.

In pleading guilty, Mr. Chavis admitted that he had misused his position as a city employee of Hercules and manager of its Redevelopment/Affordable Housing Program.  The Affordable Housing Program provided grants of up to $15,000 to persons of low and moderate incomes in order to make certain repairs on their residences. Mr. Chavis admitted generating and then approving false applications for grants in the names of Hercules residents who, in fact, were unaware that their names were being used.  Mr. Chavis then caused City of Hercules financial staff to issue checks to his co-defendant Lamark Lassiter ostensibly to pay Mr. Lassiter for construction/contracting work that he had performed on residences pursuant to the grants even though the work had never been performed.  Mr. Lassiter, who previously pled guilty on May 8, 2004, admitted receiving the checks totaling $390,494, and to converting most of it to cash.  Mr. Lassiter then kicked back large amounts of the cash to Mr Chavis. 

U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan said, in announcing the guilty pleas, "Public officials who misuse their official position to enrich themselves harm not only their constituents, but undermine citizens' faith in our public institutions." 

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, who is presiding over the case, set September 13, 2004, as the date for the sentencing for both Chavis and Lassiter.

The maximum statutory penalty for mail fraud is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus restitution.  The maximum penalty for filing a false tax return is one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.  Any sentence will be imposed under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and imposed in the discretion of the Court.

The prosecution is the result of a lengthy investigation by Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service with the assistance of the City of Hercules Police Department and officials of the city government of Hercules.  Ben Burch is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Legal Assistant Noble Hughes.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181.