The FBI corruption probe into Wayne County has spread to include contracts in the county Sheriff’s office, Joel Kurth reports in The Detroit News.
It comes at a bad time for the sheriff, Benny Napoleon, who is the undisputed leading candidate for mayor of Detroit, now that Mike Duggan has been forced from the race because he failed to properly file campaign documents.
Three sources with firsthand knowledge of the probe confirm to the News that agents are investigating accusations that the Napoleon administration has steered work to a contractor, Michigan Tether of Clinton Township, that is partially owned by a major county campaign contributor.
That businessman, Joseph Lentine, is a partner in another company that hired the wife of Napoleon’s chief of staff, Michael Turner, last year — just as Michigan Tether began receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in work from the county to supply tethers.
Napoleon, who said he learned of the probe from the News, blamed the inquiry on a political dustup over a change of contracts that he said is saving taxpayers money.
“We are trying to do what’s best for the citizens of Wayne County,” Napoleon, a Democrat who has consistently polled atop the race for mayor of Detroit, told The News. “I haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t worry about at all. Not for one millisecond.”
Napoleon said he is not concerned about the effect of the investigation on his run for mayor.
Said the sheriff: "People are sophisticated enough to know what is going on. Detroiters are not falling for any of this nonsense.”
