Detroit councilwoman charged with taking bribes

DETROIT — City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of a powerful Democratic congressman, was charged Friday in a bribery scandal, accused of accepting cash bribes in a filing that typically signals a plea deal has been struck.

Conyers was expected to appear at a court hearing Friday morning in Detroit, and was not immediately available for comment.

She is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for allegedly accepting two payments from a Synagro Technologies official in late 2007 in exchange for supporting a sludge contract with the Houston company.

The government says Conyers received envelopes containing cash on Nov. 20, 2007 in the parking lot of a Detroit community center and on Dec. 4 of that year in a McDonald’s parking lot.

The charge is outlined in a legal document called a “criminal information,” which only can be filed with the defendant’s consent and typically signals a plea deal.

Conyers is the most prominent person snagged in an investigation of corruption in a sludge-recycling deal with Synagro. Two people who worked for the company have pleaded guilty.

Her husband is John Conyers, the powerful Detroit congressman who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. He has no role in the case.

A spokesman for John Conyers, Jonathan Godfrey, said the congressman may issue a statement later Friday.

City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. told WJBK-TV that according to the City Charter, any elected official found guilty of a felony would have to step down from the council.

Cockrel said he would speak with city lawyers about the council’s next steps.

The Synagro sludge contract was rescinded in January.

The council voted 5-4 in November 2007 to award a $47-million-a-year contract to Synagro to recycle wastewater sludge and build a state-of-the-art incinerator to replace one that belches yellow plumes over a poor neighborhood.

In January, Synagro’s Michigan representative, Jim Rosendall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. His plea agreement described how he distributed cash and other gifts to officials.

On June 15, Rayford Jackson, a Synagro contractor, pleaded guilty to the same charge.