Highland Park School Board member and union activist Robert Davis was indicted last month on charges of theft by federal prosecutors.
They accused Davis of stealing more than $125,000 from the ailing Highland Park school district.
Today, more details emerged from the indictment.
Robert Snell of the Detroit News reports on "newly unsealed federal court records" the paper obtained.
The records allege Davis controlled a bogus nonprofit group, "Citizens United to Save Highland Park Schools." The feds say Davis used the group's bank account for "an $84,000 spending spree at car dealerships, hotels, bars, restaurants and a custom-clothing store."
From The Detroit News:
The financial information was included in an FBI search warrant affidavit requesting permission to raid Davis' home in Highland Park last year. The affidavit does not specify which car dealerships were patronized. But Davis paid a St. Clair Shores dealership $21,450 for a used silver Mercedes-Benz CLK320 coupe in May 2009, according to the Secretary of State. That's at the height of the time Davis was stealing money from the school district, according to federal prosecutors.
The sixteen-count indictment says Davis stole the school district's money between 2004 and 2010. If convicted, he faces the possibility of 10 years in prison on each of the counts of the indictment.
Davis made headlines before the indictment was made public by successfully winning a court battle against the state's financial review teams for violating the Open Meetings Act.
Davis has maintained his innocence and his lawyer did not offer a comment on the newly unsealed records, telling the News he had not seen them yet.
