Former Wayne County Deputy Chief Information Officer Sentenced to Prison for Accepting Cash for Official Acts

The former deputy chief information officer of the Wayne County government was sentenced to prison today for taking $13,000 in cash from a businessman who had contracts with Wayne County, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today.

McQuade was joined in the announcement by Acting Special Agent in Charge John Robert Shoup, Federal Bureau of Investigation.

During a hearing today before U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy, III, David Edwards, 43, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, a $4,000 fine, and a term of supervised release based on his plea of guilty to accepting illegal gratuities. Edwards, a political appointee in the Wayne County government, had accepted payments of $6,000 and $7,000 in cash between 2009 and 2011 from a county information technology contractor.

Five Wayne County officials have been convicted of corruption or obstructing justice. Defendant Zayd Allebban was sentenced to 41 months in prison on September 6, 2013. The other three convicted defendants, Tahir Kazmi, Michael Grundy, and Keith Griffin, await sentencing.

United States Attorney McQuade said, "The court’s sentence today sends a strong message that public officials who use their positions of trust to personally profit will be punished. Public officials should serve the interests of the people, not their own.”

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David A. Gardey.