Judge Dismisses Charges Against Wayne County Jail Consultant

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A district court judge has tossed out a misdemeanor neglect charge against Anthony Parlovecchio, a Bloomfield Township jail consultant who had been accused of misleading local officials about cost overruns at a half-finished county jail project.

On Monday, 36th District Court Judge Kevin Robbins dismissed the charge of willful neglect of duty as a public official after Parlovecchio’s attorney, Ben Gonek, said the charge should never have been filed because his client was an independent contractor and not a public official, according to reports from the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

“He was the owner’s (representative) for less than a year, and while he was there, the jail was ahead of schedule and under budget,” Gonek, of Troy, said of his client’s role in the long-stalled jail project.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office is expected to appeal the judge’s decision.

“The statute under which Parlovecchio is charged applies to public officers and any person holding a public trust or public employment,” Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Prosecutor Kym Worthy, told the Free Press.

In September, charges were dismissed against Wayne County attorney Steve Collins, who also had been charged in the jail project. Collins had been charged with misconduct in office after an investigation by a one-man grand jury that also charged former Wayne County chief financial officer Carla Sledge.

Charges against Collins were also dismissed because a judge ruled that he was an employee, not an elected official, but the charges against Sledge still stand. She faces two felony charges of misconduct of office, as well as a pair of misdemeanor charges of wilful neglect of duty, and is due to appear in court Jan. 11 for a pre-trial hearing before Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans.

In June 2013, former Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano stopped work at the construction site, located on Gratiot at St. Antoine across the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, after costs skyrocketed to $391 million from the $300 million estimate.

An audit, which remains sealed while the criminal cases proceed, had uncovered signs of potential criminal activity, the Free Press reported.

Though the project has been idled for more than two years, Wayne County taxpayers are still paying $15.8 million a year in bond payments, security, insurance and other costs related to jail construction.

James Canning, communications director for new Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans, told the Free Press a plan is being developed to “clean up the mess that was left behind” by the previous administration.

A plan should be ready by the end of January, he said. It could involve selling the property business mogul Dan Gilbert.