Dean R. Ryan admitted payment in kind and cash to former Tampa housing chief Steve LaBrake for favorable treatment.
By GRAHAM BRINK
Published October 19, 2004
TAMPA - A fellow defendant in the federal corruption case brought against former Tampa housing chief Steve LaBrake has agreed to plead guilty.
With the trial scheduled for next month, contractor Dean R. Ryan could become the prosecution's key witness.
Ryan agreed in court documents filed Monday to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery. He also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, which could include testifying at trial.
Ryan could face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 15 years on the bribery charge, though he's likely to receive a much lighter sentence if he follows through with the agreement to cooperate.
Neither Ryan or his attorney could be reached for comment Monday.
Ryan was president of Ryan Construction, a Seffner firm that won millions in housing contracts from the city and built the LaBrakes' 4,200-square-foot dream home, which is at the center of the 60-count indictment filed last year.
LaBrake and his wife Lynne are accused of taking a series of bribes and gratuities to get the two-story home built and, in turn, steering millions of dollars in U.S. Housing and Urban development contracts to the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan and Ryan Construction.
In 2001, when news stories first broke about the home, Ryan denied giving LaBrake a sweetheart deal or any other wrongdoing.
But in the plea agreement, Ryan agreed that his company did work on the home in return for favorable treatment. Ryan footed the bill to build the LaBrakes' swimming pool and paid more than $13,000 on Lynne LaBrake's credit card debt, according to the court documents.
During construction of the home, Ryan received a $30,000 payment from THAP for work not associated with the nonprofit group, according to the plea agreement.
Chester M. Luney, former executive director of THAP, was accused in the same indictment of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and theft of public money. Luney provided a number of favors for the LaBrakes, including authorizing a lucrative gift-basket contract and a $1,400-a-month lease.
From 1969 until the late 1990s, Ryan Construction got the bulk of its business from residential renovations for the city. Ryan then began getting city contracts to build new houses for low-income residents.
Ryan built eight homes for the city in 2000, city records show. In 2001, he got contracts to build 18 houses.
Ryan no longer runs Ryan Construction. Both the LaBrakes lost their city jobs amid an ethics investigation. They were forced to sell the Corona Street home last year for $477,500. The couple now work together in real estate in two companies, LaBrake Realtors and American Winning Homes.
Also due to stand trial with the LaBrakes and Luney is Lori Roberts, a University of South Florida credit union loan officer, who handled several loans for the couple.
