Sludge company's ex-representative pleads guilty
National News
A former representative of a Texas company pleaded guilty Monday to federal bribery conspiracy, admitting a multiyear scheme to win a sludge recycling contract through cash and trips for Detroit officials.
Jim Rosendall's cooperation with the FBI led prosecutors to recommend a sentence of no more than 11 months in prison, well below the five-year maximum.
The company used cash and plane trips to Las Vegas to curry favor with Detroit officials and win the $47 million contract to recycle sludge, according to a criminal charge unsealed earlier in the day.
The city officials were not identified.
The influence-peddling game reached a climax in fall 2007 when a city council member accepted payments to vote in favor of a deal with Synagro Technologies, the government alleges. The contract was approved, 5-4, in November 2007.
"People expected me to give things to get their support," Rosendall, former president of Synagro of Michigan, said in court.
Earlier Monday, Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. addressed speculation about a federal investigation into the conduct of city government members. "I think we'll have to see how it plays out," he said.
Rosendall's guilty plea comes more than four months after Kwame Kilpatrick resigned as mayor and went to jail in a sex-and-text scandal after admitting he lied during a civil trial to cover up a torrid affair with his chief of staff.
Related listings
-
Judge gives $65M to USS Pueblo Captives
National News 01/02/2009A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered North Korea to pay $65.85 million to two crew members of the USS Pueblo, the commander's widow and a civilian oceanographer for kidnapping and torturing the ship's crew in 1968. In a sordid 3...
-
Court: No obligation for company to give teen drug
National News 12/17/2008A pharmaceutical company does not have to provide an experimental drug to a Minnesota teen who is terminally ill with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in reversing a lower court decision.The ruling by the U.S. ...
-
2nd suspect arrested in Oregon bank bombing
National News 12/16/2008Two law enforcement officers killed in a bank bombing last week believed the device was a hoax and were trying to open it when it exploded, according to court documents released on Tuesday.A probable cause statement in the case of bombing suspect Jos...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.