Ex-Airport Official Accused of Taking About $5 Million in Bribes and Eating Evidence

A former Wayne County Airport official was indicted Wednesday on charges he pocketed more than $5 million in bribes in connection with maintenance and repair contracts for runways and parking structures at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the U.S. Attorney's Office announces. At one point, authorities say, he ate a napkin that was potential evidence.

"Our citizens are entitled to decisions based on the best interests of the public, not the best interests of corrupt public officials and bribe-paying contractors," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider says in a statement.

The indictment alleges that James Warner, 51, of Commerce Township, from May of 2010 through August of 2014, while employed as a field inspector at the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA), engaged in multiple schemes to defraud the WCAA out of millions of dollars.

In one scheme, Warner drafted and submitted fraudulently-inflated invoices for work which co-defendant William Pritula, 69, of Romulus, was contracted to perform at the airport.

Upon payment by the WCAA to Pritula, Pritula would kickback roughly half of the profits to Warner—a total of over $5 million over four years, a press release says. 

It's case one of the largest federal bribe cases prosecuted in Michigan's Eastern District.

In another scheme, Warner demanded money from co-defendant Gary Tenaglia, 65, of Oakland Township. Tenaglia held maintenance and repair contracts for Detroit Metropolitan Airport’s parking structures. Warner both inspected and supervised Tenaglia’s work and concealed any mistakes from the WCAA.

In exchange, Warner demanded approximately 10 per cent of each invoice from Tenaglia. Tenaglia’s cash payments to Warner totaled over $100,000. 

During a dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said, according to The Detroit News.

"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount on a napkin," the indictment stated.  "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."

Warner left the WCAA in August 2014 and began working for the Water and Sewer Department in West Bloomfield Township in January 2017. Within months, Warner proposed to Tenaglia a continuation of the same scheme the two had at the airport—a demand for 10 percent of each invoice West Bloomfield Township paid Tenaglia.

Warner is also charged with obstructing justice by altering a document he gave the FBI.

Pritula and Tenaglia are expected to plead guilty, The News says.