Detroit — The attorney for former Mayor Kwame KilpatrickCorrectionsenforcementSachs said he has informed his client about turning himself in to authorities now after an arrest warrant was issued Monday for probation violations in the text message scandal.
Kilpatrick is now listed as a wanted man nationwide for numerous alleged violations of the probationary terms that allow him to live in Texas and work as a $120,000-a-year computer software salesman for Compuware subsidiary Covisint.
No date has been set by the judge for his return. Groner has said he will set a date after arraignment for a hearing on the charges. Kilpatrick’s lawyer, Michael Alan Schwartz, said Monday he hopes to see Kilpatrick in Detroit soon.
An affidavit filed Monday claims Kilpatrick failed to disclose the sources of $40,223 paid on his behalf toward $1 million restitution the former mayor owes the city. Included were copies of 89 money orders received by the court around the Feb. 19 deadline for Kilpatrick to make a $79,011 payment. His lawyers have said Kilpatrick has no money to pay.
Schwartz complained Monday that the judge approved the new complaints in an improper secret meeting with an assistant prosecutor. Schwartz said ethics rules force him to file a complaint against Groner with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
Many of the money orders are signed by Kilpatrick relatives, such as his sister Ayana Kilpatrick Ferguson, brother-in-law Daniel Ferguson, and Kamal, Marvel, Marsha and Ray Cheeks. Others came from friends and long-time supporters, such as Frazier Kimpson, a former mayoral appointee under Kilpatrick who also was director of constituent relations for former Councilwoman Monica Conyers.
Kimpson said Monday he contributed $50 toward Kilpatrick’s restitution.
“I did so out of concern for his children,” Kimpson said. “As a former teacher, I saw the effects of growing up in a household without a father everyday in the classroom. I was hoping that my small contribution would help keep his family together.”
The arrest warrant was requested by the Michigan Department of on Feb. 23, and Worthy added other charges, including accusations that he failed to surrender funds the court ordered turned over to restitution and he hid assets including money he “fraudulently conveyed” to his wife. The Michigan Court of Appeals temporarily halted plans to have Kilpatrick appear for arraignment on Feb. 26. On Friday, the higher court rejected Kilpatrick’s appeal.
Police encountering Kilpatrick are now authorized to arrest him, but law authorities say that is unlikely.
Meanwhile, Kilpatrick has hired a high-powered public relations expert specializing in crisis management.
Mike Paul, president of MGP & Associates on Fifth Avenue in New York, whose former clients include Aretha Franklin, Muhammad Ali and Goldman was named spokesman Monday.
Paul described himself as a “friend” to Kilpatrick and accused prosecutors of “piling on a former mayor who’s down and out.”
“To try and imply that family members and friends, who make restitution, make payments for the restitution for the debt that’s due the city of Detroit, to try and imply that that’s inappropriate is an abomination,” Paul told The Detroit News. “His title is former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, not Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The prosecutor is an elected official and the judge is an elected official. It’s important for the citizens to be reminded of that.”
From The Detroit News:
