Former Detroit-area mayor pleads guilty in scheme to cash in on land deal

2024-12-23 20:13:26 source: category:Contact-us

INKSTER, Mich. (AP) — The former mayor of a Detroit-area community who lost reelection in 2023 after being charged with bribery pleaded guilty Wednesday to accepting $50,000 in a corrupt land deal.

Patrick Wimberly regularly received payments from someone who wanted to buy a parcel owned by the city of Inkster. In one exchange, he opened the center console of his car for a $10,000 drop-off, investigators said.

The government said Wimberly’s goal was to collect a total of $100,000. The FBI stepped in before the property was transferred.

“Public officials who act in their own best interests, motivated by greed, betray the trust of their communities and the general public,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said.

Wimberly lost reelection last year, a month after he was indicted by a grand jury. Inkster, population 25,000, is near Detroit.

After being charged, Wimberly acknowledged last October that he was in trouble.

“Did I put myself in a situation that I should’ve never been involved with? Yes, I did. I take full responsibility for that,” he said in a video. “I’m going to have to go through the process, but know that I’m standing here and I’m standing strong.”

More:Contact-us

Recommend

The boy was found in a ditch in Wisconsin in 1959. He was identified 65 years later.

Officials in in Wisconsin said DNA evidence has solved a more than 65-year-old cold case involving m

Mistrial declared in Karen Read trial for murder of boyfriend John O'Keefe

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of Karen Read, a Massachusetts woman accused of killi

Supreme Court declines to review Illinois assault weapons ban, leaving it in place

Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a challenge to an Illinois law banning certain