A grand jury has indicted a metro Detroit official for allegedly taking thousands of dollars in bribes from two companies, and from an undercover FBI agent.
It’s the latest in what the U.S. Attorney’s office describes as a “ongoing and long-running investigation into the systemic corruption in multiple municipalities in southeast Michigan, primarily Macomb County.”
Dean Reynolds, a Clinton Township trustee, was charged last month for allegedly taking bribes, including up to $70,000 and a free divorce attorney. In exchange, the complaint says he helped a company get an $18 million contract with the township.
That company isn’t named in the criminal complaint, but it’s widely reported to be the Rizzo trash hauling company. The CEO recently resigned, and the company has told media it’s cooperating with the investigation. We didn’t get an immediate response to our requests for comment from Rizzo’s communications director, or the president of GFL Environmental Corp, which recently bought the company.
This week’s grand jury indictment mentions a second company, referred to only as “Company A” in the filing, for bribing Reynolds with $16,000 between 2009-2013. Reynolds took the money, the indictment says, allegedly “intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with businesses and transaction of the Charter Township of Clinton…”
Then between March and May of this year, Reynolds allegedly “accepted a total of $7,000 in cash bribes from an FBI agent on the three separate occasions,” the U.S. Attorney’s office says.
He’s facing up to 10 years of prison and will be arraigned next Thursday. Reynolds' attorney did not immediately return our request for comment.
