A Korean American woman working in the Los Angeles Housing Department collected payoffs from fellow community members under the guise of helping them with building code violations, according to an article published by the Los Angeles Times.
The article stated that police charged Eun Chavis, 58, with demanding $43,000 from various Korean-speaking landlords in order for them to clear building code violations or grant building permits. Chavis, who was employed by the city as a mere clerk typist, was the only Korean-speaking employee in the department thus her dealings with Korean American landlords went unchecked.
Chavis was charged last year with 11 felony bribery counts. An arrest warrant has been issued for her husband, Frank Max Chavis, who was charged with five related bribery counts. He has remained in South Korea and out of reach of police.
In a deal with prosecutors, Eun Chavis pleaded no contest to a single felony bribery count and spent less than a month in jail. She finished her one-year sentence at home with a monitoring bracelet but faces the possibility of additional penalties for a probation violation.
Los Angeles Police Lt. Mathew St. Pierre, head of the commercial crimes division, said he couldn’t speak officially for the department, but he was personally unhappy with the outcome. “The punishment didn’t fit the crime,” he said.
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