The FBI is investigating a top D.C. building inspector who was accused of being involved in a bribery scheme that already has resulted in the conviction of one former city official, according to documents filed Monday by the D.C.’s Attorney General’s Office.
Juan Scott, the supervisor of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ construction inspections unit, had been placed on administrative leave last year and ordered to turn in his law enforcement badge after he was accused by developers of conspiring with former DCRA building official Yaw Oteng-Agipong to extort a bribe from them.
A subsequent investigation by The Examiner found that before he joined the DCRA, Scott had served four years in federal prison on weapons and drug charges. Agipong admitted in federal court that he was part of a scheme aimed at shaking down local developer Todd Zirkle. He was sentenced to 60 days last month. Federal prosecutors said in court documents this spring that a city inspector was also involved in that scheme.
They have not named the city employee because he has not been charged. But Scott was the inspector who shut down Zirkle’s project last September. The FBI investigation had taken no fresh turns since Agipong’s conviction. Scott was reinstated by his bosses at the DCRA and given his badge back, court documents said.
But court documents filed this week by D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer reveal that Scott remains under criminal investigation by the FBI. Responding to a civil suit brought by Zirkle’s Fifth Street developers, whose project remains shut down by Scott’s stop-work order, Singer asked that the civil suit be put on hold until the FBI finishes its investigation. Meanwhile, Zirkle said he and his partner are losing $600 a day.
Federal authorities said they cannot discuss the case. Scott has asked the District to represent him in the lawsuit, but Singer said it cannot represent Scott until the conclusion of the FBI investigation.
DCRA spokeswoman Karyn-Siobhan Robinson said in a written response that Scott remains employed with DCRA because, to date, the allegations against him are still pending. She said Scott was not available for an interview; Scott has not returned calls by The Examiner.
