City building inspector charged with bribe solicitation.
San Francisco Chronicle
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 24, 2006
An Alameda building inspector tried to shake down the owner of a Chinese restaurant for free meals, materials to build an addition to his home and a food blender to give his wife for Christmas, according to court documents filed Friday.
Hans Warner Williams, 46, of Dublin, was arrested at his home Thursday on two counts of solicitation of bribery and arraigned Friday in Superior Court. He entered no plea and is due back in court on July 7. He was released after posting $30,000 bail.
Williams, who was placed on administrative leave, has worked for the city for more than a decade with no complaints. His arrest came as a surprise to city officials.
His attorney, William Linehan, declined to discuss details of the case but said the charges do not match his client’s “unblemished record” in more than a decade on the job.
The alleged crimes took place between December 2005 and June 2006. The investigation began after local businessman Richard Chiu, whose family owns the Chef’s Wok restaurant on Webster Street, called the FBI to file a complaint.
In December, Williams spoke to Chiu at the restaurant, which was having its kitchen remodeled, and pointed out several problems, according to court documents.
Williams suggested he could overlook the problems, telling Chiu “you help me and I’ll help you,” according to documents. Williams also allegedly said he could help grease the wheels with city officials regarding other projects the family wanted to develop.
The inspector said he was planning to build an addition to his Dublin home and suggested Chiu and his family set up an account at an Oakland store called Economy Lumber so that Williams could buy supplies and charge them to the account, authorities say.
During that and other meetings, Williams ate food prepared by Chef’s Wok and did not pay. He later asked if he could get free food from Chef’s Wok and the House of Bagels, another establishment the family owned, according to court documents.
Chiu could not be reached for comment Friday, and Williams did not return a telephone call seeking comment for this story.
On Dec. 13, Williams showed up unexpectedly at Chef’s Wok to perform an inspection, and declined to sign off on work in progress, records show. Before leaving, he gave Chiu printed information about a Vita-Mix food blender that he said he wanted to give his wife for Christmas. Williams suggested that Chiu buy the blender at Costco, which had the best price.
The next day, Williams approved the progress of the work without comment. In an interview with investigators, Chiu said he bought the Vita-Mix blender and left it with an employee at the restaurant. He said Williams picked it up before Christmas.
Chiu began to secretly record conversations with Williams in the middle of January, court records show. During those talks, Williams again discussed setting up the joint account, mentioning he wanted to buy a window and a skylight.
As the investigation progressed, agents provided Chiu with audio and video equipment to record additional conversations with Williams.
During a March 24 lunch at the restaurant, Williams allegedly discussed the lumber store account with Chiu, telling him, “I’m going to be starting my project in six or seven weeks” and “I want to be able to access the account, but I don’t want to make it too obvious.”
Williams told Chiu the work being done on his house wasn’t that large. “It’s only going to be 300 square feet … don’t worry, you can always say no. … I am not going to build another house on the side.”
According to the city’s Web site, Williams gave final approval to the remodeling work at Chef’s Wok on March 24. The site lists no comments from Williams. On April 26, Williams met Chiu and gave him a list of building supplies, which Chiu turned over to investigators.
When Chiu expressed reservations about the gifts during a May 4 conversation, Williams responded, “I don’t want you to think I’m going to nickel-and-dime you for the next five years.”
June 25 2007 05:32 pm | Bribes
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