Clinton Township Trustee Took Up to $70K in Bribes for Votes: FBI

Updated. CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI — An elected Clinton Township trustee took thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for votes on municipal contracts, the FBI said in a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. Dean Reynolds, 49, of Clinton Township, was arrested by the FBI Thursday as part of what investigators described as an ongoing and long-running investigation into systemic corruption in multiple municipalities in southeast Michigan, but primarily Macomb County.

Investigators with the FBI’s Detroit Area Corruption Task Force used telephone wiretaps, consensual audio and video recordings by cooperative individuals, undercover operations, physical surveillance, telephone tracking warrants, and subpoenas of financial records and other documents, according to a news release from the Justice Department.

Since 2012, Reynolds has accepted multiple bribes totaling between $50,000 and $70,000 in cash from representatives of an unnamed vendor that won a “significant contract” with Clinton Township, according to the complaint. Additionally, investigators allege, he took $17,000 in cash payments from an undercover agent of the FBI in transactions that were recorded on the video.

In exchange for the money from the company representative, Reynolds sold his vote on the Clinton Township Board of Trustees in favor of the company’s contract, and Reynolds provided information about the votes of other trustees, authorities allege.

“Corruption undermines the very nature of representative government,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in the news release. “Law enforcement is committed to seeking out and prosecuting corrupt public officials in all areas of the Eastern District, including suburban communities.”

David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, said Reynolds’ arrest “should serve as a reminder to the public of the FBI's longstanding record of successful public corruption investigations in the Detroit Metropolitan area.”

“Betrayal of the public trust for personal gain will always be an investigative priority of the FBI and our partners in Michigan,” he said.

The Detroit Area Corruption Task Force is a multi-agency task force led by the FBI Detroit Division and comprised of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Michigan State Police, Michigan Attorney General’s Office and several other local and federal law enforcement agencies.

The case against Reynolds is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys R. Michael Bullotta and David A. Gardey. If convicted of federal program bribery, Reynolds faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Reynolds was expected to be in federal court Thursday afternoon for his initial appearance on the criminal complaint.

Photo illustration using photos from Shutterstock and Clinton Township official website