Dentist entangled in Calif. state Sen. Yee's corruption case

Wilson Sy Lim, a supporter of the legislator, practices dentistry in Daly City. Wilson Sy Lim, a supporter of the legislator, practices dentistry in Daly City. Photo: Deborah Svoboda, The Chronicle Photo: Deborah Svoboda, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Dentist entangled in Calif. state Sen. Yee's corruption case 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

Among the stranger characters to emerge from the bust of state Sen. Leland Yee is a 60-year-old Daly City dentist who has no criminal record but agreed, according to the FBI, to deliver weapons from the Philippine military to an undercover FBI agent posing as an East Coast member of the Mafia.

The dentist and former San Mateo County commissioner, Wilson Sy Lim, was arrested Wednesday and charged - alongside Yee, an outspoken gun-control advocate - with conspiring to traffic in firearms.

Lim has not spoken about the accusation, which stunned some people who know him and prompted the Philippine government to open a probe into whether Lim, a native of the country, has links to a military captain willing to funnel automatic rifles and other arms to him.

'He can barely walk'

This weekend, at Lim's modest and well-kept dental office on Mission Street in Daly City, his staff brushed aside the allegations as inconceivable. One assistant called him "sweet and generous" but dogged by recent health problems, including a heart attack.

According to court records, Lim - who was released after posting $50,000 bond - also has had financial problems.

"He can barely walk from here to the end of the street. He's not well. He's been sick," said Artika Singh, who has worked for Lim for almost a decade.

"We're here with him constantly," she said. "Eight hours a day is a long time. I see him more often than my family. If he was doing something, we'd know it."

Lim was one of 26 people charged in an investigation that targeted a brotherhood organization in San Francisco's Chinatown headed by Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, a group with which Lim has no apparent ties.

The investigation extended to Yee after an undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated Chow's group was introduced to the senator and allegedly persuaded him to trade political favors for campaign contributions.

Lim, a political backer of Yee's, occupies a unique position in the case. While many of the other defendants are associates of Chow's - and purportedly engaged in crimes such as money laundering and drug dealing - Lim's only link to the case is Yee.

According to a 137-page FBI affidavit underlying the charges, Yee introduced Lim to the undercover agent as a man who could secure guns. The agent, the FBI said, had asked Yee to facilitate an arms deal in exchange for more campaign money.

Meeting with FBI agent

On March 5, the FBI said, Yee told the undercover agent that Lim was a "gun lover" with no moral aversion to selling guns, and that Lim's Philippine connection had trafficked in guns in the past.

Six days later, the FBI said, a meeting took place in a San Francisco restaurant that included Yee, Lim and the undercover agent.

According to the undercover agent, Lim said a captain in the Philippine military would provide weapons to a nephew of Lim's, and he asked the agent to "put together a list of desired weapons."

The agent said both Lim and Yee discussed details of the deal, such as where the weapons should be shipped, and that Yee spoke of traveling to the Philippines as part of the transaction, while stressing that everyone needed to be "extra-extra careful."

The allegations have gained attention in the Philippines. The Sun Star, an English-language newspaper in the country, quoted a spokeswoman for President Benigno Aquino III as saying the military is looking into the details in the FBI affidavit.

"We have also been trying to get a name or at least more information about the alleged involvement of a supposed military officer," the spokeswoman said.

Professor perplexed

The scenario puzzled Jay Gonzalez, a Golden Gate University professor who studies government corruption, once headed the University of San Francisco's Philippine studies department and has met Lim several times over the years at Filipino American events.

"A captain in the army?" Gonzalez asked, referring to Lim's alleged conversations with the undercover FBI agent. "Where will a captain in the army get 100 M16s? They can't even get decent boots in the military there."

Lim does not have the personality of a seasoned international arms dealer, the professor said, adding: "He had the personality of a dentist."

Lim's employees said the same thing. They described Lim, who served on San Mateo County's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Recovery Commission from 2010 to 2013, as a man whose failing health would have prevented him from making arms deals half a world away.

Lim, while responding to a lawsuit filed against him in October 2011, told a judge he suffered a heart attack and stroke that year that put him in a coma and hospitalized him for 2 1/2 months, resulting in memory loss and requiring dialysis and the insertion of a pacemaker.

Eviction case

The lawsuit was filed by the owner of a building on South El Camino Real in San Mateo, who had leased the property to Lim and was seeking to evict him and collect more than $150,000 in damages.

The suit said Lim built "unpermitted" rooms for a karaoke bar that was shut down by police after it hosted "acts of ill-repute and prostitution." In his court declaration, Lim suggested he did not directly manage the operation.

It's unclear exactly how the eviction case was resolved, but state records show that last year Lim surrendered a liquor license he had obtained for New Golden Jaguar Lounge, the karaoke bar in the building.

Public records suggest Lim had significant financial problems in recent years. He has either sold or lost two homes in Hillsborough since 2011. He filed for bankruptcy in federal court in 2012, listing $1.3 million in mortgage debt.

Lim did not respond to messages left on his cell phone's voice mail and has not had an attorney assigned to him.

Vocal about support

Although the role he played in the saga remains murky, what is certain is that he supported Yee, according to people who knew him. Gonzalez said Lim made his support known even to acquaintances, and Singh said Lim had paid to bring his staff to Yee's fundraising dinners.

Singh said Lim treats his staff like family, and they're now trying to return the favor. She attended Lim's court appearance Friday to provide moral support, she said.

"His name is just in it because he's a supporter" of Yee, Singh said. "It's wrong. We all agree. That's why we're still here by his side. We'll continue to be by his side because we believe in him. He's just not that type of person."

Hearing

State Sen. Leland Yee is to appear in U.S. District Court in S.F. at 9:30 a.m. Monday for a bond hearing. Full coverage: www.sfchronicle.com/lelandyee.