In the fall of 2010, limousine company operator Bassam Salaheldein wanted some help.
And, as federal prosecutors tell it, he was willing to pay bribes to get it.
Salaheldein, 40, of Rhawnhurst, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiracy to commit bribery. He could face up to five years in a federal lockup when he is sentenced on Nov. 27.
The government’s plea memo said Salaheldein wanted the manager of the Taxi Enforcement Division of the Philadelphia Parking Authority to allow him to self-select the vehicles in his fleet to be inspected, to “pass” vehicles unfit to be driven and to “pass” a driver who had failed a licensing exam.
The feds said that between September and November 2010, Salaheldein gave the PPA worker cash in for official favors.
Salaheldein also asked a Philadelphia police officer in October 2010 if he would help him obtain a gun permit and expunge his criminal record.
Both the PPA manager and police officer were working undercover as part of an FBI investigation.
Salaheldein delivered a completed firearms application to the officer on Oct. 19, 2010, which falsely claimed he had never been convicted of a crime and a $300 down payment, the plea memo said. He had been convicted of misdemeanor simple assault in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court in 2004.
On Nov. 15, 2010, Salaheldein reportedly gave the officer an additional $2,000 to pay off a witness not to appear at a friend’s pending state trial and credit $500 as a down payment for expunging Salaheldein’s criminal record.
Contact Michael Hinkelman at hinkelm@phillynews.com or 215-854-2656. Follow him on Twitter @MHinkelman.