So. Philly man faces bribery charge for allegedly stuffing cash into official's pocket

A South Philadelphia man has been arrested on bribery charges for $300 in cash he allegedly stuffed into the pants pocket of a city employee evaluating a property for tax-assessment purposes.

District Attorney Seth Williams and city Inspector General Amy L. Kurland on Thursday announced charges against Ri Quang Wu, 59, in a May 5, 2014, incident in which Wu accompanied an evaluator from the Office of Property Assessment during a building walk-through in the 500 block of Mountain Street in South Philadelphia.

During the reassessment, Wu allegedly "bumped" into the evaluator and stuffed $300 into his pants. When the evaluator tried to return the cash, Wu refused - several times - to take it. The employee alerted his supervisors and gave the cash to investigators.

According to court records, Wu is on five years' probation from a 2013 guilty plea to obtaining a second Pennsylvania driver's license under a false name. He was sentenced to five years' probation in Westchester County, N.Y., in 2011 after pleading guilty trying to sell 30,000 untaxed cigarettes. - Joseph A. Slobodzian