Los Angeles Building Inspector Pleads Guilty in Bribery Case

A Los Angeles city building inspector agreed to plead guilty in a federal bribery case Thursday just two weeks after being arrested by the FBI, according to a Department of Justice prosecutor.

Raoul Joseph Germain, 59, of Altadena, was caught on camera accepting $6,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent in a sting after the agency received a tip-off about Germain.

Germain was arrested on April 9 along with Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock, who allegedly accepted $9,000 in bribes from an informant and an undercover agent.

Germain could receive a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to Assistant United States Attorney Joe Akrotirianakis.

Both Germain and Gonzalez worked on the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, which is responsible for inspection of construction projects in the city.

According to the criminal complaint, both inspectors were accused of taking bribes by a residential developer who had contact with both in the course of doing construction work in the city.  The informant, who is not named in the complaint, told the FBI that he had personally made 30 to 40 bribes to department inspectors.

Those bribes included paying for vacations for inspectors, buying materials at stores associated with the inspector, or doing construction work at the home of inspectors.

In exchange, the inspectors would forego actually physically inspecting any of the projects they were tasked with checking for compliance with city building codes.

German was approached by an undercover FBI agent who told him he was paying too much in bribes to another city inspector.  Germain then offered to sign off on inspection papers in return for $1,500, according to the complaint.

Germain will be appearing in court Monday, and then again in a few weeks, and will officially plead guilty at that time, said Akrotirianakis.