This afternoon, a federal jury convicted Dean Reynolds, a former Trustee of Clinton Township, on all fourteen counts of bribery and bribery conspiracy United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced today.
Schneider was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Manny Muriel, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service.
The jury deliberated for slightly over an hour before reaching its guilty verdicts following a six-day long trial that began on June 13, 2018. The Court remanded Reynolds into custody following entry of the verdicts.
During the trial, the evidence showed that Reynolds demanded and took over $150,000 in bribes in four separate bribery conspiracies involving four different government contracts. 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 jury found that Reynolds demanded bribes in connection with the Clinton Township garbage-hauling contract worth over $16 million, the township engineering contract worth over $500,000 per year, and the township towing contract. In addition, the jury convicted Reynolds of conspiring to pay bribes to former New Haven, Michigan Trustee Brett Harris and to corrupt the garbage contract for New Haven. Reynolds was convicted of taking multiple bribes from convicted garbage executive Chuck Rizzo, from Paulin Modi, a former managing partner of Giffels Webster Engineering, who was also convicted of bribery, and from Gasper Fiore, the owner of multiple towing companies in southeast Michigan, who was also previously convicted of bribery conspiracy.
United States Attorney Schneider said, “Today’s verdict shows both our intolerance for corrupt public officials in Metro Detroit, and the community’s willingness to find them guilty after hearing the evidence. The verdict is a victory for honest government and a blow to those officials who try to subvert it for their own selfish, greedy ends."
"The pursuit of public officials who abuse their authority for personal gain is one of the highest priorities for the FBI," stated Timothy R. Slater, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. "We are committed to rooting out corruption and graft in southeast Michigan to ensure that our communities get the honest and quality public representation that they deserve."
Based on the jury’s guilty verdicts for conspiring to commit bribery and taking bribes, Reynolds faces a maximum of five years in prison on each of the four bribery conspiracy charges and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition, Reynolds also faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of his ten convictions for bribery. A preliminary calculation of the federal sentencing guidelines for Reynolds indicates that he faces a total combined sentencing guideline range of over twenty years in prison.
This case is part of the government’s wide-ranging corruption investigation centered in Macomb County, Michigan. Reynolds was the sixteenth individual convicted as part of this investigation, including public officials, contractors, and other co-conspirators.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Michael Bullotta, David A. Gardey, and Adriana Dydell
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
