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LaBrakes' total is more than 8 years

Steve LaBrake gets the harshest sentence, five years, in a Tampa housing scandal.

By JEFF TESTERMAN
Published February 26, 2005

	STEVE LaBRAKE FIVE YEARS Former head of Tampa's housing department, convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and accepting bribes and gratuities. He steered millions of dollars in federal HUD contracts to the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan and to Ryan Construction, which in turn helped build a luxury home at a bargain rate for LaBrake in 2001.
	LYNNE LaBRAKE THREE YEARS, FIVE MONTHS Steve LaBrake's wife and former assistant, convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and accepting bribes and gratuities. She obtained financial favors from THAP and had her credit card debt paid off by Ryan Construction.
	CHESTER LUNEY TWO YEARS, NINE MONTHS The former executive director of THAP used THAP money to move a house at a cost of $22,000 to clear the way for the LaBrakes' home, to buy $34,000 worth of gift baskets from Lynne LaBrake's business and to buy out her lease on a Toyota 4Runner for $24,969. He also signed a "sham" lease on her Riverview home.

TAMPA - It took about eight months for Steve and Lynne LaBrake to construct the 4,200-square-foot South Tampa home they hoped would be the foundation of a new life together.

Now, the couple will pay for the luxurious home - and the bribes it took to build it - with more than eight years in prison.

On Friday, rebuking a city culture that seemed to nurture corruption, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara sentenced Steve LaBrake, 53, the city's one-time powerful housing boss, to five years in federal prison, and his wife and former city aide, Lynne McCarter LaBrake, 34, to three years, five months behind bars.

"What strikes me about the LaBrakes' situation is that they were part of the culture that permeates Tampa government, where you do me a favor and I'll do you a favor, even though it violates the public trust," said Lazzara. "It appears this mindset has clouded their ability to appreciate the criminality of their conduct.

"But I'm satisfied their conduct was criminal," the judge said.

The LaBrakes were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and more than two dozen counts of bribery as they built a luxury home in South Tampa. The conspiracy involved a trade of city contracts in exchange for favors from builder Dean R. Ryan, 66, and former Tampa Hillsborough Action Plan executive director Chester M. Luney, 60. Citing Luney's extensive community service for low-income residents, Lazzara sentenced the former chief of the THAP nonprofit to two years, nine months in prison. The judge ordered all three defendants to share in the payment of $142,000 in restitution, a debt that is be repaid to the city of Tampa's HUD housing programs.

Ryan, the government's star witness who admitted paying bribes to Steve LaBrake to keep housing contracts coming to his construction company, was sentenced to five years' probation on Thursday, with the first six months to be in home detention. Ryan was also ordered to pay restitution of $72,000.

The message prosecutors hoped to send with the four-year-long bribery investigation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill said Friday, was that "public officials don't use public money for private gain."

O'Neill said the city's low-income housing programs had "slowed to a trickle" as a result of the corruption uncovered by the FBI and HUD agents, and that had harmed Tampa's poorest residents.

Earlier this week, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said the city housing scandal had cost about $4-million in repayments to HUD and coverage for improper real estate purchases while Steve LaBrake was Tampa's $105,000-year director of business and commercial services.

"Mr. LaBrake did not have much respect for procedures," Iorio said. "And now we have spent literally two years getting back up to speed.

"It's been a matter of lost time, lost opportunities, lost staff time and lost real dollars."

Steve LaBrake began building a luxurious four-bedroom 31/2-bath home at 3608 W Corona St. in January 2001, as he was divorcing his first wife, and while Lynne McCarter, as she was then known, was pregnant with his child. Steve LaBrake told the judge Friday that he had wanted to start his life anew after he suffered a heart attack, underwent cardiac surgery and realized how much he had missed.

LaBrake's cardiologist, ironically, was Dr. Robert Lazzara, the brother of the federal judge presiding over Friday's sentencings.

But in 2001, LaBrake and McCarter sought help building their house on W Corona Street. They turned to Ryan, who agreed to build the shell of the home for $105,000. Under pressure, Ryan paid $17,000 for plumbing, installed a pool and paid off Lynne McCarter's $13,000 credit card debt.

The payback: Steve LaBrake arranged for Ryan to get 14 city housing contracts through THAP, all $3,000 above the standard price, as well as another $30,000 payment, according to trial testimony.

Similarly, Steve LaBrake kept city contracts flowing to THAP while Luney signed a "sham" lease on McCarter's Riverview home to help her qualify for a loan, paid $22,000 to haul off an old home on the W Corona Street lot, took over payments on a Toyota 4Runner to help improve McCarter's financial statement and agreed to pay $34,100 for gift baskets prepared by McCarter, filled with items already purchased by THAP.

On the witness stand during the trial, Steve LaBrake insisted all the cozy transactions were above-board and legal.

He remained unrepentant to the end, even as he stood before Lazzara on Friday and broke down before being sentenced to prison.

"There's no question I look bad, but there was never an intent to steal from the public," said LaBrake. "Maybe some rules were bent, but not for personal gain."

Among those who stood by Steve LaBrake through his legal difficulties was then-Mayor Dick Greco.

Under the white-hot spotlight of constant media coverage and a grand jury investigation, the LaBrakes sold their W Corona Street home for $480,000, but then spiraled into debt as they lost their city jobs and were indicted.

Their cars were repossessed. They were stripped of their real estate licenses. Their last property, the Riverview home, was sold Friday at a foreclosure auction.

If Steve LaBrake did express remorse Friday, it was for all he had lost, and how that had affected those closest to him.

"I have ruined the lives of a great many people; my children, mu wife, my ex-wife, my best friend, Chet Luney, another friend, Dean Ryan," said LaBrake. "I have nothing to be proud of. I stand before you pretty much ruined."

At a nearby table, his wife dabbed her eyes with a tissue. LaBrake's children, 20, 22 and 26, wept in a corner of the courtroom.

"I look into their eyes," said LaBrake, gesturing to the children, "And I'm ashamed, not for what I've been accused of, but that I let them down."

When it was Lynne LaBrake's turn to speak to the judge, she read from a prepared text, refuting the findings of the jury in the conspiracy case. This brought an admonition from Lazzara, who said it was "a little late" to retry her case.

Lynne LaBrake conferred with her lawyer, then skipped to her last page. In tears, she spoke of her teen-age daughter being teased at school and now acting out because of publicity surrounding the case. She spoke of her "miracle baby," now 3, born to the LaBrakes after Steve's reversed vasectomy.

"I feel I have been punished enough by losing everything I've accomplished," she said. "I cannot bear the loss of my two children."

Then it was Luney's turn. More than 40 people had filled the courtroom in his support. Fifteen spoke to Lazzara with testimonials to Luney's unselfish work to bring housing, job training, a medical clinic and other support to Tampa's poorest residents.

Luney wept as he addressed the judge. He resigned from THAP after his favors for the LaBrakes were disclosed.

"It is very difficult for me to articulate the pain, suffering and damage for not thinking through my actions, which resulted in the downfall of THAP," Luney said. "I only sought to keep a working relationship with the city of Tampa. I humbly apologize."

Lazzara sentenced Luney to the low end of federal sentencing guidelines, he said, because of Luney's good works. He was similarly lenient with Lynne LaBrake, he said, because of his concern for the adverse effect a long imprisonment would have on her children.

The judge handed down nearly the maximum for Steve LaBrake.

"He has showed absolutely no remorse," said Lazzara. "Maybe it's the culture of Tampa. But he violated the public trust to benefit himself."

Jeff Testerman can be reached at 813 226-3422 or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 26, 2005, 01:16:05]