Former Realtor & Mayor of Melissa, Texas Slammed, Sentenced in Bribery Scheme

Former Melissa, Texas mayor David Dorman has been sentenced to prison for taking part in a bribery scheme with a real estate broker. The Texas real estate license of the Realtor he “worked” with will also be suspended.

This is another Byron Harris story: last January, Byron told us that Dorman agreed to plead guilty if the charge against him was changed from extortion to mail fraud, which carries the same penalty. Byron also said he has to return the funds he received as a bribe. But…

“Whatever the charge, Dorman is guilty of a serious crime, said Malcolm Bales, U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of Texas, whose office prosecuted the case.

“He flat-out abused the position that the people of Melissa elected him to, to line his pockets,” Bales said.

In a signed factual statement Dorman made to the federal court, the former mayor admitted he took two payments from real estate developer John Christie in 2007 in exchange for annexing land into the City of Melissa and agreeing that Melissa would provide water and sewer lines to the property.”

Wow. Just like that. Well Dorman was just sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. This January, both men pleaded guilty to charges related to the bribery scheme.

Christie will serve six months in prison, and get one year of supervised release. His real estate license will be suspended during that time. According to news reports, Dorman solicited a $70,000 bribe from Christie, but prosecutors say he actually got $30,000 in three separate payments. The deal was this: Dorman arranged to annex land from a neighboring city so Christie could develop it, land water and all, and sell it for profit.

Sweet, right? Also illegal!