A former San Francisco official accused of bribing a woman in charge of a city community improvement program in exchange for contracts appeared in Superior Court Friday but did not enter a plea.
Rudolph Dwayne Jones faces multiple felony charges related to an alleged scheme in which prosecutors said he paid bribes to his co-defendant and former girlfriend, Lanita Henriquez, who pleaded not guilty Thursday.
As director of San Francisco’s Community Challenge Grant Program, which issues grants for community improvement projects, Henriquez was positioned so that she could direct contracts to Jones and his companies, according to prosecutors.
“The public funds allocated to the City’s Community Challenge Grant Program are intended to benefit the communities of our city—not to line the pockets of government officials,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement Tuesday.
Jones allegedly paid Henriquez and her go-betweens roughly $190,000 from 2016 to 2020.
Over that period, Jones’ company RDJ Enterprises was awarded $1.4 million in contracts.
Prosecutors say Henriquez masked the bribes by having Jones pay her family and friends, who took a cut and then passed the bulk of the money to her.
Jones, in turn, masked the payments by sending invoices for supposed work done on community projects to Henriquez, according to court documents.
Jones entered court Friday with a large entourage and appeared in a blue suit beside his attorney.
He will return to court with Henriquez on Sept. 8.