Two city officials in Hempstead have been indicted and arrested on charges of taking bribes, several local news outlets are reporting this morning.

Mayor Pro Tem Larry Wilson and City Alderman Paris J. Kincade Jr. took $13,000 in bribes, the Chronicle story says:

The contractor was paid more than $19,000 to demolish four Hempstead buildings in 2007, and Wilson and Kincade told him they could steer him additional contracts worth up to $160,000, according to the indictment.

In exchange, the indictment states, the contractor paid Wilson $10,000 and Kincade $3,000.

The feds are involved because the demolition work was being done as part of a $350K federal community development block grant.

The town's mayor told KPRC-Channel 2 that "everybody is pretty much stunned."

The punchline, as pointed out by several commenters in The Chron's online forums: Hempstead's official Web site calls it a "city of character." We grabbed a screen shot for you.