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Dean Reynolds
Former Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds was hit Wednesday with what appeared to be the toughest federal sentence of any elected Metro Detroit official convicted of public corruption since ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland, sitting in Port Huron, sentenced Reynolds to 17 years and fined him $15,000.
Kilpatrick got 28 years and his friend, Bobby Fergusion, a contractor, got 21 years.
Reynolds, who was part of a broad FBI public corruption probe in Macomb County, was convicted on four counts of bribery conspiracy and ten counts of accepting bribes in connection with millions of dollars in township garbage, towing and engineering contracts.
Reynolds took more than $150,000 in bribes in four separate bribery conspiracies involving four different government contracts, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit said. The bribes included over $75,000 in cash, $50,000 in free legal services for Reynolds’ divorce and an all-expenses paid trip to Disney World, including an eight-night stay in a deluxe-level room costing over $600 per night.
“The Court’s sentence today shows that public officials who violate the trust of their communities by taking bribes and betraying their oaths of office will not escape our pursuit of justice," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement.
Of the 17 contractors and public officials convicted so far in the FBI probe in Macomb, Reynolds by far was hit hardest. Trash mogul Chuck Rizzo, a central figure in the probe, is serving more than five years for his role. Towing king Gasper Fiore is serving 21 months.
In October 2013, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, sentenced former Mayor Kilpatrick to 28 years, and was harshly criticized by some defense attorneys in the legal community for a punishment they believed was excessive.
In December 2011, ex-Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years for 18 corruption convictions. One of the allegations was that he tried selling or trading the Senate seat that was vacated when President Barack Obama became president. .
At the time, that was considered one of the harshest federal sentences in the country for a corrupt elected official.
