By Chris Kain
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A federal grand jury has indicted Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White Sr. on a bribery charge in the wake of his arrest last month.
The indictment, posted online today by 7News and other local media outlets, generally incorporates the allegations laid out in the affidavit written in August by the FBI special agent in charge of the case.
White “received and accepted” $35,000 via four cash payments between June 26 and Aug. 18 in return for using his position to push for the extension of two organizations’ violence interruption contracts with the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and the DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, according to the indictment’s explanation for the bribery charge.
The indictment further alleges that White “corruptly demanded, sought, received, accepted, and agreed to receive and accept approximately $156,000.”
White chaired the committee with oversight of DYRS until recently. Soon after the arrest, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson removed White from that committee and also set up an ad hoc committee to determine whether White should face expulsion, reprimand or censure from the council.
