STEVE LABRAKE, 52: The former head of Tampa's Business and Community Services department, which controls construction projects, housing grants, zoning, permits and low-income housing. Prosecutors allege he received bribes from Chet Luney and Dean Ryan, awarding contracts to them in exchange for favors that helped him build the W Corona Street "dream home." He now works as a real estate broker. He faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and 28 bribery-related counts.
LYNNE LABRAKE, 33: Formerly Lynne McCarter, she is Steve LaBrake's wife. She was his top aide in the city's housing department when she was his girlfriend. Despite not having a college degree, she moved under LaBrake's direction from being a $6-an-hour clerk to the $55,723-a-year aide's job. She made thousands of dollars by selling Christmas baskets, "Welcome Packages," and a Toyota 4Runner to the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP). She and THAP CEO Chet Luney entered what prosecutors call a "sham" lease agreement on one of her properties. She faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and 28 bribery-related counts.
LORI A. ROBERTS, 40: As a loan officer with the USF Federal Credit Union, she handled the $230,000 mortgage Lynne LaBrake used to finance the W Corona Street home, which Mrs. LaBrake received despite a marginal financial statement. In 1995, Mrs. LaBrake prepared a city loan package for Roberts' home on Marham Avenue. Steve LaBrake fired a contractor and hired Ryan Construction to complete the home's renovation, and helped Roberts get a loan on a pool. Roberts faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD and one count of wire fraud.
CHESTER M. LUNEY, 59: Formerly the CEO of the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP), one of the city's largest nonprofit groups, which builds low-income housing and provides social services with tax dollars. Luney resigned his $78,000-a-year job from THAP in December 2001 amid revelations he performed favors for the LaBrakes. They include: signing a blind lease for Mrs. LaBrake and buying gift baskets and a Toyota 4Runner from her, hauling an old house off the W Corona Street lot and digging a hole for a pool there. In 2001, Luney resigned as a psychologist at the Veterans Administration after the Times revealed he was writing grants there to funnel money into his nonprofit. Luney faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud, 19 bribery-related counts and two counts of embezzling government funds.
DEAN R. RYAN, 65: A general contractor and president of Ryan Construction. He built the shell of the 4,200-square-foot home on W Corona Street for $120,000, after having received more than $1-million worth of city contracts from LaBrake's department. Prosecutors say he helped Lynne LaBrake pay off her credit card and paid to have a pool built for the W Corona Street home. In June, the city suspended Ryan Construction from doing government work because the company built a city-backed house on the wrong lot. Ryan is charged with one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and nine bribery-related counts.
