One of the officials who signed off on those permits was Fernando De León, the department’s friendly, soft-spoken assistant director. Investigators headed to his office. De León wasn’t there, but they seized his computer and files. City Manager Sheryl Sculley later fired him, but De León wasn’t arrested.

Until last week.

A federal indictment made public Thursday sheds light on the case against De León. Longtime readers of the Express-News might remember some of the details we had discovered about the case through public records and lots of digging:

For the first time, the indictment lays out the actual allegations against De León, and describes how he is accused of teaming up with Rodriguez to defraud Pape-Dawson and the firm’s clients.

Check out the most recent story here, and if you want to learn more, here are past posts about the case.

The post Former San Antonio official Fernando De Leon faces federal charges in alleged bribery scheme appeared first on John Tedesco.

We published a story today with more details:

Related: Former San Antonio official Fernando De Leon faces federal charges in alleged bribery scheme

Federal authorities subpoenaed records last year at Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc., the largest engineering firm in San Antonio, as part of an investigation of permitting practices at the city’s Planning and Development Services department.

Two sources familiar with the inquiry said Pape-Dawson Engineers is not the target of the investigation. FBI agents appear to be focused on Rapid Permit Services Inc., a small company that Pape-Dawson had hired in the past to file development plans with the city.

Records and interviews show Rapid Permit Services is owned by Rebeca De León Lopez, who is the sister of Fernando De León, an assistant director of land development at the city who was questioned Friday by the FBI.

Federal agents and white-collar crime police detectives seized De León’s computer and files from his office Friday at the Development Services “One Stop” Center at 1901 S. Alamo St. That same day, City Manager Sheryl Sculley placed De León on administrative leave.

Asked about the FBI inquiry, engineer Gene Dawson Jr., a well-known figure in the real estate industry, responded by e-mail to the San Antonio Express-News, stating: “Pape-Dawson confirms that we did meet with the FBI last summer, but due to the ongoing investigation, we have no further comment.”

You can check out the incorporation papers of Rapid Permit Services, which were filed about 10 months before De León was promoted to assistant director at the city in July 2006. The city also has a flow chart showing the employees who worked for De León and their duties.

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