Ceila Washington
Ceila Washington
A tearful Celia Washington, the former deputy Detroit Police chief, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to accepting a $3,000 bribe from Detroit towing king Gasper Fiore.
Washington's plea almost didn't go through after she told the judge she was only pleading guilty to avoid the uncertainty of a trial and a sentence. She said she thought the money from Fiore was simply a loan.
“I can’t risk going to trial, I can’t risk a jury trying to reach into my head and determine my intent,” Washington, 57, told U.S. District Judge David Lawson, according to Robert Snell of the Detroit News. “I’m at risk of being away from my two kids for a very long time. I cannot afford, financially or emotionally, to go through with this.”
After speaking, Judge Lawson said he couldn't accept the plea, noting: “Part of pleading guilty is an acknowledgment of guilt."
But her attorney Arnold Reed managed to save the plea.
After a 30-minute break, Washington issued a statement:
“When Mr. Fiore gave me money, I realized soon after that, because of my position, he was trying to influence me,” Washington told the judge. “I did nothing to help Mr. Fiore.”
A press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office explained:
Washington admitted that she knew that Fiore was using the cash bribe to seek to influence her in the selection of tow rotations in the City of Detroit for Fiore’s towing companies.
Under the city’s towing rotation, private towing companies are called by the police to tow cars that are seized by the police or had been stolen. When she accepted the bribe, Washington was aware that Fiore was violating the City of Detroit’s rules prohibiting a towing company owner from having more than one company in the rotation for a particular police precinct or district.
After she accepted the $3,000 cash bribe from Fiore, Washington assisted in issuing a police towing rotation list that continued to allow Fiore to violate the city’s towing rules and that significantly benefited Fiore’s companies. Although Washington had claimed that the $3,000 in cash from Fiore was a “loan,” Washington admitted during her guilty plea that she kept the money and had spent some of it when she knew Fiore was seeking to bribe her in connection with the city’s tow rotations.
