San Luis Obispo County developer sentenced to five years in prison
November 12, 2024
Ryan Petetit-Wright and San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill in San Fransisco
Editor’s note: CalCoastNews is referring to developer Ryan Petetit, who changed his name to Ryan Wright during the case, as Ryan Petetit-Wright.
By KAREN VELIE
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson on Tuesday sentenced San Luis Obispo County developer Ryan Petetit-Wright to five years in federal prison for paying bribes to former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill in exchange for official acts in support of his company’s development projects.
Petetit-Wright admitted conspiring with his partner John Belsher and Hill to deprive local citizens of honest services through a pay-to-play scheme. Petetit-Wright pleaded guilty to one criminal count: conspiracy.
In a series of exclusive articles published in 2015, CalCoastNews reporters exposed the criminal conspiracy.
Petetit-Wright, who has been in federal custody since Oct. 2023, is hoping to be incarcerated at the federal prison facility at Lompoc. Petetit-Wright currently remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
Petetit-Wright was a managing member of PB Companies and had served as the company’s CEO until Dec. 2015. Petetit-Wright and Belsher started out big with more than a dozen projects they valued at over $300 million.
Under their PB Companies’ name, they borrowed money from banks, hard money lenders and private parties. However, they regularly failed to pay investors and contractors.
Petetit-Wright admitted that from approximately June 2014 until March 29, 2017, he and Hill engaged in a quid pro quo bribery scheme. Hill would use his official position to help the developers secure approvals necessary for PB Companies’ real estate development projects in both the county and the city of San Luis Obispo.
John Belsher and Ryan Petetit-Wright
PB Companies allegedly paid nearly $100,000 in bribes and gifts to Hill.
While under a federal investigation, Hill committed suicide with an overdose of cocaine and antidepressants on Aug. 6, 2020.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Department investigated this matter. Assistant U.S. attorneys of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section Thomas F. Rybarczyk, Billy Joe McLain, and Daniel J. O’Brien prosecuted this case.
While court filings refer to Belsher as Petetit-Wright’s co-conspirator, law enforcement agents have not arrested Belsher.
“Defendant’s bribery here was not just a one-off payment, a singular mistake, or bad choice,” according to prosecutors. “Instead, it was purposeful, planned, and an intentional effort to fix the system, thereby undermining the integrity of the City of San Luis Obispo and San Luis Obispo County’s processes just to line his pockets. But like all corruption-related offenses, defendant’s crime not only undermined the integrity of the governmental processes at play, it also undermined the public’s trust in their elected officials and the institutions they serve.”
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