Ecorse, MICHIGAN

ARRESTED
On September 26, 2009, Ecorse, Michigan, Mayor Herbert Worthy, 77, (left) and Controller Erwin "Earl" Hollenquest, (right) 62, were arrested on bribery-related charges. They are scheduled to return to court on Oct. 16. Both are Democrats.

An FBI affidavit attached to the federal charging documents lays out a tale of two businessmen plying Worthy and Hollenquest with at least $40,000 in cash, a 1998 Lexus and other favors in return for millions in municipal payments. Businessman Stacey Tarockoff and associate, Sheldon Divers, are alleged to have largely bankrolled Worthy's 2007 mayoral campaign and formed Michigan Municipal Services LLC two days after Worthy was elected.

After the mayor eliminated the city's public works department, the newly-formed company received contracts that generated more than $3.1 million in, what prosecutors say, were often inflated billings. They also hired Worthy's son and grandson, as discovered by the Detroit Free Press. Divers, FREEP reported, "has a felony criminal conviction for cocaine possession and misdemeanor convictions for drug possession, records indicate."

Worthy was reelected Mayor on November 4.

Ecorse Wikipedia entry.

Since the post-war era, the city, like most other industrial inner-ring suburbs, has fallen into economic decline. In December 1986, the Wayne County Circuit Court issued a court order appointing a receiver for the bankrupt city. The receivership would last until August 1990, but the city's finances were monitored by the state for another ten years, afterwards.

By the fall of 2009, facing a $9 million deficit and a federal corruption probe, Governor Jennifer Granholm declared a financial emergency for the city, paving the way for the appointment of an emergency financial manager.

Criminal Complaint against Worthy PDF