Yesterday's convictions of Kwame and Bernard Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson pretty much put the finishing touches on a highly successful public corruption case in Detroit by the feds. The success of this case was needed following some debacles pursued by the feds in some other cases, particularly in Macomb County the Carl Marlinga and Chuck Busse cases from the early 2000s.


Here's the tally of the public corruption cases in Detroit and Wayne County, released by the U.S. Attorney Office in Detroit. (more is expected in the Wayne County case)

 

37 people charged, 35 convicted, two awaiting trial

Monica Conyers, former City Council President Pro Tem and Trustee of the

City’s General Retirement System, pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy and

was sentenced to 37 months.

Rayford Jackson, former consultant to Synagro Technologies (an

environmental technology company from Houston), pled guilty to bribing

Councilwoman Conyers and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

James Rosendall, former President of Synagro of Michigan, pled guilty to a

bribery conspiracy and was sentenced to 11 months.

John Clark - former Chief of Staff to the then Detroit City Council President

Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., pleaded guilty to lying to agents of the Federal Bureau of

Investigation (“FBI”) during their corruption investigation relating to the Synagro

Technologies, Inc. (“Synagro”) sludge hauling contract. Clark was sentenced to

5 months in prison and two years of supervised release.

Samuel L. Riddle, Jr., was sentenced to 37 months for his role in conspiring to

bribe Southfield City Councilman William Lattimore in connection with the

Southfield City Council's approval of the relocation of a pawn shop and other

related offenses. In addition, Riddle was sentenced on charges that he

conspired with Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers to extort money from

individuals having business before the Detroit City Council and the Board of

Trustees of the General Retirement System.

Mary Waters was sentenced to one-year probation for her role in the Southfield

conspiracy.

William Lattimore, a former member of the Southfield City Council, was

sentenced to 18 months in federal prison today based on his conviction for

bribery

DeDan C. Milton (former Executive Assistant to the former Mayor of Detroit),

Kandia Milton (Liaison to City Council for the former Mayor, and later Deputy

Mayor) and Jerry Rivers (a former police officer) all pleaded guilty to

participating in a bribery conspiracy relating to the sale of property by the City of

Detroit – namely, a 160-acre campsite in Livingston County called Camp

Brighton/Detroit Recreation Camp. DeDan Milton was sentenced to 37 months,

Kandia Milton was sentenced to 14 months and Rivers received 12 months and

a day.

Glenn Blanton, former Director of Cobo Hall Civic Center (Detroit’s municipal

convention center), pled guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with his

receipt of bribes, cooperated with the government, and was sentenced to 12

months in prison.

Lou Pavledes, former Director of Cobo Hall Civic Center, pled guilty to

structuring his receipt of bribe payments to evade currency reporting

requirements, cooperated with the government, and was sentenced to 14

months.

Karl Kado, President of Metro Services Organization, a municipal contractor,

pled guilty to evading taxes associated with moneys used to bribe public officials,

cooperated with the government, and was sentenced to probation.

Derrick Miller, former Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Detroit, pleaded

guilty to corruption and tax offenses. Awaiting sentencing.

Emma Bell, a former fundraiser for Kwame Kilpatrick, pleaded guilty to two

counts of tax evasion. She is awaiting sentencing.

Victor Mercado, former Director of the City of Detroit Water and Sewerage

Department has pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with

one count of conspiracy related to the ongoing public corruption trial of former

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick and long time friend Bobby

Ferguson.

Andrew Park - an owner and executive of Asian Village Detroit, Inc. (“Asian

Village”), Pangborn Technovations, Inc. (“PTI”), and the Security Communication

Alert Network (“SCAN”), was sentenced to twelve months in prison and two

years of supervised release based on Park’s December 17, 2010 guilty plea to

tax evasion for his failure to report and pay taxes. Park was also ordered to

restitution in the amount of $302,000.

Jon Rutherford - president and CEO of Metro Emergency Services, Inc., (MES)

was sentenced to 21 months in prison, followed by three years supervised

release and Judith Bugaiski, the former Controller of MES, was sentenced to

three years probation, with the first 90 days to be served in a residential re-entry

program. Bugaiski was also ordered to pay $69,445 to the Internal Revenue

Service. Rutherford diverted grant money to himself, and channeled money into

his property management company, DPR Management LLC, (DPR) so that he

could use the money for political payments and campaign expenses. Bugaiski, at

the direction of Rutherford, maintained the books and records, knowing that the

information was false.

Marc Andre Cunningham - Former Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Detroit

during the Kilpatrick Administration, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit

bribery. At the request of former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Cunningham agreed

to reward the former mayor for supporting the pension fund deal by paying the

former mayor's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, a portion of the $300,000 commission

that Cunningham received from the venture capital firm. After Cunningham

received his periodic commission payments from the venture capital firm, he

gave a portion of that money (in amounts between $4,000 to $6,000), in cash, to

Bernard Kilpatrick. The total amount of cash Cunningham paid to Bernard

Kilpatrick was at least $15,000. He is awaiting sentence.

Tabitha Goodner - former Operations Manager of XCEL Construction Services,

Inc. pleaded guilty to her role in the bid-rigging case against Bobby Ferguson.

Goodner submitted false documents as part of an effort to allow Ferguson

Enterprises, Inc. to bid on, perform and receive payment for public works projects

awarded by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Goodner was ordered to

by a $5,000 fine.

Shakib Deria - former Project Executive and former Director of Demolition and

Environmental Remediation at Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. pleaded guilty for his

role in the bid-rigging case against Bobby Ferguson involving the Garden View

Estates public housing project in Detroit. Deria helped Bobby W. Ferguson

obtain $171,000.00 in cash through eighteen separate withdrawals of $9,500.00

each made from that account. The two structured the withdrawals into amounts

under $10,000.00 in an effort to avoid having those transactions reported to

federal authorities. Deria received a sentence of 36 months probation.

Rodney Burrell - A businessman from Northville, Michigan pleaded guilty for his

role in the Ferguson bid-rigging conspiracy case involving the Garden View

Estates public housing project in Detroit. Burrell falsely inflated project bid

documents submitted in the name of BURRELL’s company called R & R Heavy

Haulers. A second defendant named Brian Dodds also pleaded guilty to

participating in the same bid rigging scheme on behalf of his company D & R

Earthmoving. The false bids were created at the direction of Bobby Ferguson and

were used as part of a dishonest scheme to make it appear that the $11.9 million

bid submitted by Bobby W. Ferguson's company Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. was

the "lowest" bid presented to perform demolition, earth work, and utilities

installation at the Garden View Estates project. Both received a sentence of 24

months probation.

Charlie Golden - former Assistant Superintendent of Buildings for the City of

Detroit, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery. Golden admitted to meeting with

a City contractor whose contracts Golden supervised and accepted a $10,000

bribe payment which Golden intended to use to pay for the installation of a range

hood and fan at his privately-owned church. He is awaiting sentencing.

Roy Dixon - president of Onyx Capital Advisers, was charged in a superseding

indictment with defrauding and embezzling over $3 million from the two City of

Detroit pension funds and a City of Pontiac pension fund. Dixon also was

charged with conspiring with former City of Detroit Treasurer Jeffrey Beasley to

give Beasley and others bribes in order to secure approval of Dixon's requests

for investment money from pension funds. Dixon was added as a defendant in a

superseding indictment that had originally named Beasley alone with conspiring

with others to personally enrich himself and his co-conspirators by accepting

bribes in return for approving investment requests to the Detroit pension funds.

The superseding indictment also adds a new charge against Beasley for taking a

bribe from Dixon. Both are awaiting trial.

Chauncey Mayfield - former investment advisor to the two City of Detroit

pension funds, pleaded guilty to conspiring with former Detroit Treasurer Jeffrey

Beasley to pay him bribes in exchange for new business from the pension funds,

Mayfield admitted that between 2006 and 2008 he had an agreement with the

then City Treasurer Beasley to pay bribes to Beasley and others to influence

Beasley's decisions as a Trustee of Detroit's Police and Fire Retirement System

and General Retirement System. He is awaiting sentencing.

Michael Woodhouse - awaiting re-trial

Calvin Hall - awaiting re-trial

Alonzo Bates - former Detroit City Councilman hired and paid “ghost”

employees and accepted free construction services in exchange for favorable

voting as a council member. Received a sentence of 33 months and ordered to

pay restitution in the amount of $91,168.

Mike Rosette - contractor made false statements to FBI in regards to the Bates

investigation and was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay a

$5,000 fine.

Britni Barber - Bates’ ghost employee, pleaded guilty to theft and sentenced to

2 years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $32,000.

Verenda Arnold - Bates’ ghost employee, pleaded guilty to theft and sentenced

to 2 years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $43,000.

Kwame Kilpatrick, Bernard Kilpatrick, Bobby Ferguson, convicted

WAYNE COUNTY INVESTIGATION

Michael Grundy - Former Wayne County Assistant County Executive Michael

Demetrus Grundy, of Detroit, was charged in an Indictment with receiving

kickbacks and extortion in connection with his position as Executive Director of

HealthChoice of Michigan. Michael Grundy conspired to personally enrich

himself and his longtime friend, Keith Griffin, by bilking HealthChoice, also called

Wayne County HealthChoice Grundy was also charged with conspircy to

obstruct justice by attempting to mislead federal investigators after subpoenas

were served on Wayne County. Grundy is awaiting trial.

Tahir Kazmi - former Chief Information Officer for Wayne County pleaded guilty

to taking bribes from a private contractor. Kazmi admitted that he accepted

bribes from a private contractor in the form of cash, trips to Hawaii, Turkey, and

Florida, and other things of value all totaling approximately $70,000. The private

contractor who paid the bribes to Kazmi had multi-million dollar technology

contracts with Wayne County. He is awaiting sentencing.

Zayd Allebban - former Wayne County Director of Enterprise Applications was

found guilty by a federal jury on charges of falsifying documents with the intent

to obstruct justice. The purpose of the falsified documents was to conceal a

bribery/extortion scheme by Allebban’s friend and supervisor, Tahir Kazmi,

former Wayne County Chief Information Officer. Allebban and Kazmi sought to

obstruct justice by seeking to persuade a private contractor to provide false

information to the FBI and to a federal grand jury investigating corruption in the

Wayne County government. Allebban is awaiting sentencing.

David Edwards - former Deputy Chief Information Officer for Wayne County

pleaded guilty to taking illegal gratuities from a private contractor because of his

official acts, Edwards admitted that between 2009 and 2011 he accepted

$13,000 in cash from a private contractor who had significant technology

contracts with Wayne County. During this period of time, Edwards was

responsible for overseeing the private contractor's work for Wayne County.

Edwards took the cash from the contractor as a reward for his work as a county

official. He is awaiting sentencing.