Ex-cop pleads guilty, says he paid $30K kickbacks to Milton brothers in sale of city property
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Detroit -- An ongoing federal investigation pressed closer to the inner circle of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Friday when two former top aides -- Kandia Milton and his brother DeDan -- were implicated in the bribery scandal.
Neither of the Miltons, childhood friends of Kilpatrick, has been publicly charged. But Jerry M. Rivers, a former Detroit police officer who served in the mayor's executive protection unit, stood in a federal courtroom Friday and said he split a $50,000 illegal payment with the two brothers in 2007.
The kickbacks were paid in connection with the city of Detroit's 2007 sale of Camp Brighton -- a shuttered children's camp in Livingston County -- to the Chaldean Catholic Church, Rivers, 39, of Taylor told Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen.
At the time of the sale, Kandia Milton was Kilpatrick's liaison to the Detroit City Council, which had to approve the sale, and DeDan Milton was an assistant to the mayor. Kandia Milton was later promoted to chief of staff and deputy mayor, actually serving as mayor of Detroit for one day in 2008 when Kilpatrick was jailed on a bond violation.
"It shows the depth and breadth of the federal investigation and the corruption in Detroit," outgoing Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said. "There is a profound cancer that had infected the Kilpatrick administration and that is still affecting the city even after he left office in disgrace."
Kilpatrick is under investigation in the wide-ranging probe, along with his former top aide, Derrick A. Miller, and the former mayor's father, business consultant Bernard N. Kilpatrick, according to court records and people familiar with the probe.
Three businessmen, two former Cobo Center directors, and former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers have all pleaded guilty to felonies in connection with a federal investigation that has spanned five years. Political consultant Sam Riddle also faces bribery and extortion related charges and awaits trial.
According to Rivers and court records, the Chaldean Catholic Church agreed to pay $50,000 over and above the $3.5 million purchase price for Camp Brighton to "facilitate" the sale. Rivers got $20,000, Kandia Milton got $20,000, and DeDan Milton got $10,000, according to Rivers and court records.
Kandia Milton, 38, who made about $140,000 a year as deputy mayor, did not return phone calls and e-mail messages. Nor did his lawyer.
DeDan Milton, 37, who made about $67,000 a year, deferred comment to his attorney.
"He hasn't been charged, and if he is charged, then we'll deal with it," said the lawyer, W. Otis Culpepper.
Rivers testified he was approached by a church member late in 2006 and introduced the man to the Milton brothers. The city officials "used their positions in the city administration to advocate that the administration and City Council approve the sale of Camp Brighton," the government alleges.
After the sale closed, the church cut a $50,000 check to middle man Kwame Ramsey, a brother-in-law of the Miltons who was given $1,000 by Kandia Milton and $500 by Rivers for his share of the work, according to Rivers and court records. Kwame Ramsey, who has also not been charged, did not respond to a telephone message left at his home seeking comment.
Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim of the Chaldean Catholic Church said he was not directly involved in the purchase but was aware of the investigation because he was visited by FBI agents about three months ago.
"We had no intention to do anything wrong," Ibrahim said. "We didn't know what happened to the ($50,000) check. We gave it to someone well-known and with a decent name."
Rivers, who served on the Police Department from 1999 to this year and is now unemployed, is to be sentenced March 11. Bribery is a five-year felony, but Rivers faces a maximum of 37 months under his plea agreement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow said the government will ask for an even lower sentence if Rivers helps in the prosecution of others, as he has promised to do.
"He's well-loved and well-respected and this was an error in judgment," Rivers' attorney, Sheldon Halpern of Huntington Woods, said outside court.
Court records say the middle man in the deal, identified by Rivers as Ramsey, gave church officials "a phony invoice itemizing work the middle man allegedly performed to secure the sale from November 2006 to August 2007."
At the time, Detroit Councilman Kwame Kenyatta described the deal as "a disgrace," noting the property had been appraised at $6.8 million. The camp, which was donated to the city in the 1920s, was a destination for generations of city children.
The council rejected the deal three times before approving it. Voting to approve the sale were Cockrel, Barbara-Rose Collins, Martha Reeves, Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and Alberta Tinsley-Talabi. Kenyatta, Brenda Jones, JoAnn Watson and Monica Conyers voted against it.
Kenyatta said Friday he was not shocked by the bribery charge and would like to examine whether the sale could be overturned.
"I kind of felt there was some flavor of that in this whole thing," he said. "It was a great facility for our children and it hurt my heart that it went down like it did. The thing smelled from the very beginning."
But others said the city got a fair price, especially considering the 2008 meltdown in the real estate market. Sheila Cockrel said the deal made sense and a competing bidder who arrived late on the scene could never demonstrate it had the necessary financing.
"This is a total shock to me," said Mark Talley, a real estate agent involved in the deal. "They were the highest bidder? What would they be bribing for?"
Burt Kassab, an attorney who represented the Chaldean Catholic Church in the deal, had a similar view: "As far as I knew, they were the only real bidder."
The duties of Kandia Milton, a onetime basketball coach, increased during the legal troubles that eventually brought down Kilpatrick. Milton served as mayor for several hours in August 2008 when Kilpatrick spent the night in jail for a bond violation. Kilpatrick later served 99 days in the Wayne County Jail for lying at a Detroit police whistle-blower trial in 2007.
The alleged kickback for Camp Brighton was paid one year after Milton and his wife filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2006, owing nearly $400,000 to a variety of creditors. He was discharged from bankruptcy in 2007.
When he was promoted to chief of staff in January 2008, he owed about $10,000 in delinquent property taxes, which he then promptly paid. He became deputy mayor a few months later.
The brothers' mother, Sandra Ramsey, is a longtime friend of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the former mayor's mother.
It was revealed at recent court hearings over Kilpatrick's restitution payments that Ramsey gave Kilpatrick $10,000 to help make a $22,000 restitution payment shortly after his release from jail in February 2009.
She also was the source of an additional $2,500 in financial assistance that Kilpatrick testified he thought came from her son DeDan, the court hearings showed.
Source: http://detnews.com/article/20091205/METRO01/912050365/1408/local