Date: May 27, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov LOS ANGELES — A San Luis Obispo man was sentenced today to 22 months in federal prison for paying a county supervisor approximately $32,000 in bribes – most of them in cash – in exchange for the supervisor's votes and influence on other votes affecting his cannabis business interests. Helios Raphael Dayspring, a.k.a. "Bobby Dayspring," was sentenced by United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. Dayspring has paid the restitution order of $3,438,793 to the IRS in this case. In October 2021, Dayspring pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of subscribing to a false income tax return. Dayspring owned, operated, and had a controlling interest in multiple farms that grew cannabis in San Luis Obispo County. He also had ownership interests in businesses that sold marijuana to the public, including in Grover Beach. To further his interests in the farms that grew cannabis in San Luis Obispo County, Dayspring began paying bribes to a San Luis Obispo County supervisor in the fall of 2016 and continued doing so through November 2019. In total, Dayspring paid the late Third District supervisor multiple bribes in cash and money orders totaling $32,000. In exchange, the supervisor voted on matters affecting Dayspring's farms, including voting multiple times in favor of legislation that permitted Dayspring's farms to operate before it had obtained final permitting approvals. In addition to bribing the San Luis Obispo County supervisor, Dayspring 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. The mayor did not respond to the offer, and Dayspring did not end up paying the bribe. Dayspring also 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. For example, for the tax year 2018, Dayspring falsely reported his taxable income as $1,262,894, when in fact his income was greater than $6.5 million. Dayspring "had one goal: build a cannabis empire," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "To accomplish that goal, he would not let anything get in his way, including the law." The IRS Criminal Investigation and FBI investigated this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section prosecuted this case.
