Former legislators Kalani English and Ty Cullen are scheduled to appear before Judge Susan Oki Mollway this morning to plead guilty to a federal charge of honest services wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years

The same honest services wire fraud statute snagged another public employee yesterday when a Honolulu building inspector pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the same statute.

Jason Dadez, a building inspector employed by Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting, admitting to taking bribes to process permits, and in one case erasing a building violation from the DPP computer system in exchange for a $1,000 payment from an architect, who paid on behalf of the property owner.

According to the plea agreement filed in US District Court following the hearing, Dadez started work at DPP in 2012, and almost immediately began taking bribes from a solar contractor, who was not named by prosecutors.

Dadez admitted he had drafted and then processed solar project applications for the contractor. He was paid $100 for each photovoltaic solar panel application, and $25 for each solar hot water application, and received a total of at least $9,900, according to the facts admitted in the plea agreement.

That amount represents quite a few applications written and then approved by Dadez. But if this were during the period when there was a large backlog of solar permit applications, it was a good deal for the contractor.

Dadez also admitted taking two bribes of $1,000 each from a Waipahu restaurant owner for processing a sign permit.

Dadez made a big mistake along the way by accepting some of the payments in the form of checks written on the accounts of the businesses involved. This guaranteed a paper trail for investigators to follow, as well as locking in the wire fraud charge because checks are cleared through the banking system’s electronic payments system.

Dadez is the third DPP employee to plead guilty to the federal charges, along with a Honolulu architect. Two others, including the city’s former chief plans examiner, Wayne Inouye, have entered not-guilty pleas and are awaiting trial. If Inouye doesn’t cop a plea and instead goes to trial, that will be one to watch, as it will likely reveal more about the extent of pay-to-play within DPP, which has a long history of public complaints regarding favoritism and lack of code enforcement.

In any case, hats off to the FBI for pursuing these cases. Honest services fraud is a crime that victimizes all of us.