Trustees Censure Treasurer for Bizarre Kidnapping Accusation

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Bloomfield Township trustees voted 5-2 Monday to censure the township treasurer for making a bizarre accusation against another official when he thought his daughter had been kidnapped.

Township Treasurer Dan Devine’s daughter turned up unharmed a few hours after he reported her missing on May 1. When Devine made the report, he told township police there was a “very credible” possibility that Township Supervisor Leo Savoie “or his associates” could be behind his daughter’s disappearance.

The two have been engaged in a political feud since 2011.

Trustee Neal Barnett, one of the five trustees voting in favor of the censure, which is a formal statement of disapproval, said media coverage of Devine’s accusation had made the township a “laughingstock.”

“Wherever I go since the articles were published, people say, ‘What the hell’s going on in Bloomfield Township?’ ” he said, according to an account of Monday’s meeting in The Oakland Press.

Related:

• Officials’ Feud Escalates to ‘Bizarre’ Kidnapping Claim

Voting with Barnett for the censure were Savoie and trustees Corinne Khederian, Brian Kepes and Jan Roncelli. Voting against it were trustee David Buckley and Devine, who reportedly interrupted the proceeding several times, calling it a “kangaroo court.”

At the end of the 90-minute discussion, Devine did apologize to Savoie and the township, saying he hoped “we can move on.”