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Former SF State official to be charged in bribery scheme

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SAN FRANCISCO -- A former San Francisco State official and a local vendor are scheduled to be arraigned Friday on 246 felony charges for their alleged roles in a bribery scheme that lasted seven years.

According to prosecutors, Robert Shearer, who was director of environmental health and occupational safety at the school, accepted numerous bribes from Stephen Cheung, owner of a waste disposal firm, in exchange for his approval of millions of dollars in payments to Cheung’s company and annual renewal of Cheung’s contract.

Between 2002 and 2009, Cheung allegedly gave Shearer a Volvo and payments totaling over $180,000 -- monetary gifts he failed to disclose. Shearer was arrested last week and and Cheung was taken into custody Tuesday after a car chase.

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Shearer faces 59 felony counts of commercial bribery, 59 felony counts of accepting a bribe, five felony counts of making a contract in an official capacity as a financially interested party and five felony counts of perjury. Cheung faces 59 felony counts of commercial bribery and 59 felony counts of bribing an executive officer.

“As SFSU students were seeing tuition increases each year, this high-level university official and vendor were getting rich off the university’s dime,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement Wednesday. “Bribery is a crime that violates the public trust and erodes the people’s confidence in government. My office is committed to prosecuting public corruption at all levels.”

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Twitter @leeromney

lee.romney@latimes.com

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