Dallas real estate developer pleads guilty to bribing city council members

DALLAS – A Dallas real estate developer who bribed two city officials pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
Sherman Roberts, the former head of City Wide Community Development Corporation, paid thousands of dollars to Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and city council member Carolyn Davis, according to court documents.
In exchange, Caraway and Davis would support loans and low income housing tax credits for Roberts’ affordable housing projects in 2015.
Documents show Roberts paid several thousand dollars in cash and promised future payments to Davis for real estate projects, including Serenity Place, Runyon Springs, and Patriot’s Crossing.
Davis promoted Serenity Place to the City Housing Committee, told other developers to pull their applications, recommended a 9% low income housing tax credit and voted to approve a $1.9 million loan from the City of Dallas.
Davis and Roberts also met with Caraway about City Wide Community Development Corporation’s Patriot’s Crossing project.
Caraway was paid several hundred dollars in cash and a monthly stipend to stop the city from seeking other bids for the project and deliver it to Roberts.
“Once you’re successful with this project, don’t forget about me,” Caraway told Roberts.
“I won’t forget about you,” Mr. Roberts replied. “That’s where the money is… the money has never been an issue.”
Roberts, 70, faces up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bribery. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12, 2025.
Davis pleaded guilty in 2019 to taking bribes from another developer. She died in a car accident four months later.
Caraway pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and tax evasion in 2019.
He was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison. That sentence was later reduced, and he was released from prison in March 2022.
Former Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway will spend the next 56 months in prison
Roberts was one of three real estate developers charged in the scandal.
Grand Park Place developer Devin Hall pleaded guilty in August 2020. Royal Crest developer Ruel Hamilton is awaiting a retrial on conspiracy and bribery charges.
Information in this article comes from the US Attorney’s Office and past FOX 4 coverage.