The Department of Justice announced Monday the arrest of a San Luis Obispo-based real estate development executive following a federal grand jury indictment alleging he paid a local politician more than $95,000 in bribes and gifts to back the company’s projects and covered up the bribery scheme by forging documents.

Ryan Wright, 37, who is also known as Ryan Petetit, of Grover Beach, was arrested on a three-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, falsification of records, and obstruction of justice. The indictment was returned on Oct. 4 and unsealed Monday.

From at least June 2014 to May 2017, federal prosecutors allege that Wright conspired with his business partner to bribe a San Luis Obispo County supervisor to win approval for his real estate projects.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune identified the local politician who received the alleged bribes as former county supervisor Adam Hill. In 2020, Hill committed suicide.

Read the indictment here.

Read more about the case at calcoastnews.com.

Potential Sentence

If convicted, Wright would face a maximum sentence of five years for the conspiracy count, 10 years for the obstruction of justice count, and up to 20 years for falsifying records, a DOJ news release stated.

Wright received a sentence of 270 days in jail in 2019 after pleading guilty to domestic violence, according to published reports.