Former SF Building Inspector pleads guilty to taking illegal payments
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernard Curran, a former San Francisco Senior Building Inspector, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of accepting gratuity payments as rewards for approving building permits.
Curran, 62, was employed by the city from 2005 until he resigned from his supervisory position while on administrative leave in May 2021. His official duties included conducting physical inspections of buildings and construction sites within San Francisco.
In his plea agreement, Curran admitted that he accepted illegal payments from two people in his official capacity.
The first was an unnamed long-time San Francisco real estate developer who Curran developed a friendship with in the 1990s. Over time, Curran inspected dozens of properties and projects connected to the developer. He admitted that during his career, he received numerous financial benefits from the developer that he knew were improper.
Upon Curran being promoted to Senior Building Inspector in 2009, he accepted cash payments as rewards from the developer in connection with final inspections at the developer's properties. In one instance in March 2017, Curran accepted $260,000 from the developer to assist Curran in paying down his existing residential mortgage so he could obtain favorable refinancing rates.
Though Curran intended to repay the money, he knew that accepting it was improper and created a forbidden conflict of interest.
Though Curran paid most of the $260,000 back, he admitted the developer never required him to repay $30,000 of the outstanding balance.
Federal prosecutors said the second person Curran admitted receiving illegal gratuities from was an unnamed engineer who worked with project owners and contractors seeking building permits.
The engineer worked frequently with Curran and knew he was a volunteer coach and supporter of a San Francisco non-profit adult and youth athletic organization. Curran admitted in his plea agreement that the engineer arranged for the engineer's clients to make charitable donations to the athletic organization as rewards for and in connection with inspections by Curran of the clients' properties.
From May 2017 through April 2019 the athletic organization received 13 such checks from the engineer's clients, totaling $9,600.
United States District Judge Susan Illston scheduled a sentencing hearing for Curran on March 31, 2023. He remains out of custody pending his sentencing hearing. Each count carries a maximum statutory term of imprisonment of 10 years.
