City inspector allegedly caught soliciting bribes at BK construction site

A city air pollution inspector checking a Brooklyn construction site threatened to impose a stop work order unless he was paid $15,000 in cash, city officials said.

Sean Richardson-Daniel, who has worked as a city inspector for 16 years, was inspecting the site at 222 Pulaski Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Dec. 4, 2015, DNAinfo reported. He allegedly told an informant he thought was a property representative that he would impose the stop work order unless he received the payment. There are no active Department of Environmental Protection complaints against the site, according to the website.

Richardson-Daniel alleged returned to the property three days later and accepted $1,500 in cash. He told the informant that he would “look out for you as much as I could,” and that he was
“going to be in the area for the next two months,” according to the Department of Investigation.

Richardson-Daniel has been charged with bribery and is expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court this week.

In a statement, acting Brooklyn District Attorney said his alleged actions undermined the public’s trust in city government.

“Honest inspections keep workers and citizens safe, especially now during Brooklyn’s booming real estate market,” he said.

In 2015, the city announced they were charging up to 50 building inspectors and contractors with bribery. Many, the city said, were engaging in a culture of “pay-to-play” whereby inspectors would expedite projects and issue certificates of occupancy in exchange for cash. [DNAinfo] — Miriam Hall