A former Wake Forest mayor and a Raleigh businessman pleaded guilty to bribery Monday.

The charges state that the two promised a state official nearly $200,000 to speed up environmental permits for a proposed ethanol plant.

Federal prosecutors also disclosed Monday that two other investors in the plant, including the former owner of Thee Dollhouse topless bar in Raleigh, extorted money to speed permits for a project in 2002.

But they said the statute of limitations had already passed for those charges.

James Albert Perry Jr., 62, the former mayor of Wake Forest, and David Lee Brady, 76, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.

They had promised the money to Boyce Hudson, then an employee of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (N&O)