Airway Heights corruption alleged
The former mayor of Airway Heights and the former operator of Spokane Raceway Park both are named in a federal grand jury indictment accusing them of multiple counts of public corruption.
The charges against Dale R. Perry stem from his financial involvement with Orville Moe, the embattled former operator of Spokane Raceway Park, a 600-acre drag-racing and oval track complex in Airway Heights, west of Spokane.
An FBI investigation was opened in January 2005 after The Spokesman-Review obtained public documents in late 2004 showing Moe was the source of a $109,000 loan to the Airway Heights mayor.
The investigation by agents of the FBI and the Washington State Gambling Commission culminated with the four-count indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Spokane.
The indictment alleges Moe loaned the mayor money with the expectation that Perry would cast favorable votes when matters involving Spokane Raceway Park came before the Airway Heights City Council.
For example, the council enacted an entertainment and admissions tax on Nov. 23, 2003, but repealed it on March 4, 2004. The tax applied to tickets sold to all events at Spokane Raceway Park, which is inside the city limits of Airway Heights.
“Public corruption destroys our collective confidence in those officials whom we entrust to govern our affairs and erodes the very fabric of our democracy,” U.S. Attorney James A. McDevitt said shortly after the indictment was returned Tuesday afternoon.
Public corruption, the McDevitt said, “cannot and will not be tolerated at any level of government. It is for that reason that public corruption has been and will continue to be a primary focus of this office.”
Such public corruption cases in the Northwest are rare.
“It’s fair to say we see very little of this, and we bring very few cases under this statute,” McDevitt said.
The indictments allege Perry “corruptly solicited” money from Moe after earlier similar unsuccessful attempts to secretly get money from Paul Sandifur, the president of Metropolitan Mortgage and Summit Properties, and Northern Quest Casino officials Tom Lien and Marianne Guenther.
That alleged conduct is the basis for the solicitation of a bribe charges against Perry.
The indictment alleges that in September 2002, Perry “corruptly solicited” a $15,000 loan from Sandifur, whose company owned undeveloped land in Airway Heights that was being considered for the development of an Airway Heights municipal building by the Airway Heights City Council.
In that same month in 2002, the indictment alleges Perry “knowingly and corruptly solicited” a loan from the Northern Quest casino officials in exchange for the mayor’s support of the establishment of the Indian casino on former Spokane Raceway Park land in Airway Heights.
Neither Sandifur nor the Northern Quest officials loaned Perry money, and they aren’t named as defendants in the criminal indictment, said Senior Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O. Rice.
Perry, who stepped down as Airway Heights mayor on Dec. 31, is charged with two counts of soliciting a bribe and two additional counts of bribery.
Moe is charged with two counts of bribery under federal anti-public corruption statutes.
If convicted, each count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Both men are expected to surrender and not be immediately arrested by FBI agents.
Moe reacted with surprise when told Tuesday afternoon that he’d been indicted.
“I have?” he said, when reached at his modest home in North Spokane.
“I’m not guilty, just like the other stuff I’m accused of,” the crusty 69-year-old businessman told The Spokesman-Review. “It’s some more lies and stories, but we’ll get it all sorted out.”
Perry, who is employed by the state of Washington, had no comment but is known to have previously admitted his involvement in the public corruption bribery case.
“Right now, on the advice of my attorney, I can make no comment,” Perry said when reached at his home whose mortgage is held by Moe.
Dates for their separate arraignments are expected to be set today by U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno.
After failing to get money from Sandifur and the Northern Quest officials, Perry approached Moe, the indictment alleges. It says Moe “corruptly loaned” Perry $18,000 in October 2002 and again loaned him $109,000 in October 2004.
The loan was secured with the deed of trust to the Perrys’ home at 762 S. King Street in Airway Heights.
FBI agents searched the home on April 27, 2005, seizing computers and business records.
The federal criminal charges against Moe come during a lull in a lengthy civil battle in state court, brought by 500 limited partners who allege he cheated them out of $2 million in stock they bought in the early 1970s.
In the latest development in that case, Moe filed a bankruptcy petition for Spokane Raceway Park on Aug. 17, temporarily freezing the action in Superior Court.
As part of their suit, a court-appointed receiver, Spokane attorney Barry Davidson, was named on July 1, 2005, by Superior Court Judge Robert Austin to take over all financial and day-to-day operations at Spokane Raceway Park, which remained open this season.
But Moe has refused to cooperate with Davidson and, public records allege, continues to defy orders from Superior Court Judge Robert Austin.
On June 1, Austin fired Moe as general manager of the racing complex and ordered him banned from the facility.
This summer, Moe fired his original attorney, Carl Oreskovich, and lists his $140,000 bill among the top 10 creditors on the Spokane Raceway Park bankruptcy petition.