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Monica Conyers Pleads to Felony

By Jeralyn

Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers, wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bribery, a felony, in connection with the Synagro bribery investigation.

Her lawyer, Steve Fishman, says her sentencing guidelines are likely to be 30 to 37 months. Her plea agreement did not refer to cooperation with the Government in exchange for a sentence reduction and states the parties do not agree on the amount of loss or restitution. The maximum sentence possible is 5 years. The Information and Plea Agreement are here (pdf).

Rep. Conyers' office issued this statement: [More...]

This has been a trying time for the Conyers family and with hope and prayer they will make it through as a family. Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standard. With this in mind, Mr. Conyers wants to work toward helping his family and city recover from this serious matter."

The U.S. Attorney, Terrence Berg, said Rep. Conyers had no involvement.

"I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers' husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers' illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way."

Update: Sam Riddle, Conyers' former Chief of Staff, has not agreed to plead guilty as of this time. Rayford Jackson, the consultant to Synagro who caused the bribe to be paid to Conyers, pleaded guilty last week. His plea agreement is here (pdf).

His agreement refers to "Courier A" who delivered the bribes to Conyers. It says "Courier A" will not be charged in exchange for his/her cooperation, but there is no agreement as to "Courier A"'s supervised release revocation. So "Courier A", the delivery person, was a felon who had served time in prison. He has been identified elsewhere as Rayford Jackson's brother, Lennie Jackson.

Another person involved in the conspiracy according to Rayford Jackson's plea agreement is Synagro Vice President James Rosendal, Jr., who pleaded guilty earlier this year.

According to Jackson's agreement, "Courier A" delivered the bribes once to Conyers' aide and three times to Conyers herself. The amounts for the first two payments aren't specified, but the last two payments were $3,000.00 each.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 26, 2009 (boomark / email).