A jury has found former Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds guilty on charges of bribery and conspiracy for his role in the Macomb County corruption scandal. He's facing 20 years in prison and a judge ordered immediate detention with sentencing in October.
He’s the first of 20 people charged in the widespread public corruption case to go to trial. Reynolds is facing 10 counts of Bribery and 4 counts of Conspiracy. Reynolds turned down a plea deal last month. He’s facing ten years of prison on each Bribery count and 5 years on each Conspiracy count. 15 others have taken plea deals and the other 4 cases are pending.
The jury heard evidence that Reynolds was paid tens of thousands of dollars by Chuck Rizzo of Rizzo Environmental to held get a ten year trash contact renewal worth $18 million dollars.
Reynolds was also given a paid attorney for his divorce worth another $50,000. Reynolds was also paid $7,000 on behalf of Gasper Fiore for help getting a towing contract with the township and thousands more from other contractors doing business with the township.
Defense Attorney Stephen Rabaut told the jury they don’t dispute the money paid, but they were loans, not bribes. No defense witnesses were presented during the one week trial. Reynolds has repeatedly said he’s innocent.
