Local contractor sentenced for bribing former school board president of Madison District Public Schools

 

Date: August 14, 2023

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

DETROIT — John David was sentenced today to 24 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribing Albert Morrison, a former school board president of Madison District Public Schools, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced.

Ison was joined in the announcement by Charles Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Devin J. Kowalski, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and John Woolley, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Education, Office of Inspector General.

David was sentenced after pleading guilty before the Honorable Laurie Michelson to Conspiracy to Commit Federal Program Bribery from 2014 through 2018 and Bribery Concerning Programs Receiving Federal Funds. David owned a building maintenance and reconstruction company, Emergency Restoration (a/k/a Emergency Reconstruction), that was awarded over $3.1 million in maintenance and construction projects in the Madison District Public Schools.

David admitted making payments of more than $561,000 to Morrison in order to secure the work for the Madison District. Albert Morrison pleaded guilty on April 25, 2023, and is currently scheduled to be sentenced on August 28, 2023.

"Our community deserves school systems free of corruption," said United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison. "This prosecution and today's sentence will help ensure that public school officials conduct themselves with the highest level of honesty, integrity, and transparency and put the interests of our children first."

"Mr. David received work from the Madison District Public School Board by bribing someone in a position of power which corrupted the process by which contracts were awarded," said Devin J. Kowalski, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office. "The FBI, IRS, and Department of Education Office of Inspector General will continue to work cooperatively to hold defendants like this one accountable for their crimes."

"Individuals who commit financial fraud of this magnitude and with this degree of dishonesty and deceit, deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Detroit Field Office. "IRS-Criminal Investigation, along with our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney's Office, remain vigilant in identifying, investigating and prosecuting those individuals who seek to use their positions of power to line their own pockets."

The investigation of this case was conducted by CI, FBI, and the Department of Education. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Resnick Cohen, Karen Reynolds, and Gjon Juncaj.