Helios Raphael Dayspring, Bribery, California 2023

LOS ANGELES – A brazen case of corruption has led a San Luis Obispo man to agree to plead guilty to bribing a county supervisor for votes affecting his cannabis business interests.

Helios Raphael Dayspring, a.k.a. ‘Bobby Dayspring,’ 35, has been charged with one count of bribery and one count of subscribing to a false 2018 income tax return that deliberately failed to report millions of dollars in income to the IRS.

According to federal prosecutors, Dayspring paid the late Third District supervisor multiple bribes in cash and money orders totaling $32,000 in exchange for the supervisor’s votes on matters affecting his cannabis farms and businesses, including voting multiple times in favor of legislation that permitted his farms to operate before it had obtained final permitting approvals.

In addition to bribing the San Luis Obispo County supervisor, Dayspring admitted in his plea agreement that he and his business associate attempted to bribe the then-mayor of Grover Beach in exchange for two dispensary licenses in that city. The attempted $100,000 bribe took place during a dinner meeting in September 2017.

Dayspring also admitted that he substantially underreported his personal income on his federal tax returns for the years 2014 through 2018, which resulted in the IRS losing more than $3.4 million in tax revenue. He has agreed to surrender in this case and make his first appearance in United States District Court in Los Angeles on August 25.

Once he pleads guilty to the bribery and tax charges, Dayspring will face a statutory maximum penalty of 13 years in federal prison and pay $3.4 million in restitution to the IRS.

The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter, which is part of an ongoing public corruption investigation in San Luis Obispo County.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section.

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