A former city worker took bribes and tampered with government records for 17 years, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in uncollected vehicle weight tax revenues, a prosecutor said this morning.

Brian Keith Hamasaki pleaded guilty to theft, bribery, record tampering and drug charges and faces up to 10 years in prison a fines of $25,000 when he is sentenced in August by Circuit Judge Richard Perkins.

Hamasaki admitted to criminal activity from 1997-2007, but Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter said a police investigation showed the crimes were committed over a 17-year period.

Hamasaki, 51, charged companies half the annual weight tax owed on commercial vehicles, pocketing a percentage of the discounted prices, Van Marter said.

He was caught after he "got greedy" and tried collecting more money for himself last year, the prosecutor said.

One of his customers turned Hamasaki into police, who conducted an undercover sting operation that led to the defendant's arrest.

Hamasaki also pleaded guilty to promotion of dangerous and detrimental drugs after methamphetamine and marijuana paraphernalia were seized from him before he boarded a flight to Las Vegas last year.

Van Marter said an investigation of the bribery case is still underway.

At least five companies paid bribes to Hamasaki and a city audit showed one of them avoided paying $34,000 in weight taxes, said the prosecutor.